Firefighters Hall and Museum

March 9, 2008 at 12:24 pm · Filed under Children, Firefighters Hall and Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Museums, Travel, Traveling with Children and tagged: birthday party, fire fighters museum, fire museum, fireman museum

Bill & Bonnie Daniels Firefighters Hall and Museum

• 664 22nd Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN
• 612-623-3817
• www.firehallmuseum.org
• $6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 ages 3-12, 2 and under free
• Free parking
• Participates in Museum Adventure Pass program
• Stroller accessible
• Restrooms available; no changing tables

I had noticed the Firefighters Museum as part of the Museum Adventure Pass “Sirens, Whistles, and Signals” adventure, but since it’s only open on Saturdays, we hadn’t fit it into our schedule yet. We finally got a free Saturday and headed to Minneapolis. We were greeted by a man who showed us where the restrooms and coat racks were located, and then talked to the kids about the museum. He explained that although much of the museum is hands-off, there are several activities that the children can do. Then he brought them each their own fire hat (complete with elastic band to keep it from falling off).

There is one fire truck that kids can climb on and pretend to drive, complete with lights and sirens. There is a fire safety video they can watch. They can work an old hand pump that actually pumps water. There are two stations set up with TV’s so they can pretend to drive the back end of a hook-and-ladder truck. They can dress up in gear, pull the fire alarm, and slide down a fire pole. And if they get bored with all of that, there are two train tables set up so they can play. In the summer, fire truck rides are offered as well. There’s also a birthday party room that can be rented for $25.

The fire pole was definitely the favorite of our troop. They went on it over and over and over and over again. In between, they drove the trucks, pumped the water, and pulled the alarm. The kids’ activities were centrally located so that adult could keep an eye on them all if necessary.

This was a fun museum, and perhaps one that’s not widely known. My girls were just as interested in things as they boys were.

Just save time for one last slide down the fire pole at the end of your visit.

I really liked the bell that they had.

My favorite thing was going down the pole.

I liked ringing the bell. I liked the whole place. It was cool. The bell had a typewriter which had patterns of the bells ringing which are triangles and the patterns that they go on there were some different things and that pattern gets to go to a place in Minneapolis or St. Paul. (5-year-old’s description of the fire alarm telegraph system)

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