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Volume 062-4 - October 2008 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin October 2008
The Firehouse as it looked shortly before World War II,
after it has been retired as a fire station and a few years
before Nevada City agreed to let the Historical Society use
it for a museum. Ivy threatened to envelope the structure.
Even then, it was a favorite subject for photographers and
the occasional tourist. (Courtesy of Searls Historical Library.)
Collected from the Archives of Nevada
City’s Earliest Newspapers
From the Morning Transcript of March 18, 1861:
A GOOD HAUL OF JURORS.—Dep’y sheriffs Van Hagen
and Lenhart hit on the best and easiest mode of filling a venire
that we have heard of in a long while. On last Saturday evening, they waited until the crowd had gathered in front of the
Nevada Hose Company’s raffle, when they quietly slipped in
among them, and served summons on forty hombres in less
than no time. It was amusing to hear the pleadings to be let
off—wife sick, claims must be worked, &c.—but it didn’t
avail much.
From the Nevada Journal of March 29, 1861:
HOSE HOUSE.—Messrs. Pattison and Gregory purchased
of Pat Kahaler, on Monday, the lot adjoining the brick store of
Collins & Co., on Main street, on which a brick hose house
will be erected by Hose Company No. 1, at an early day. The
Company have the funds on hand to complete the work.
gingerbread that has made the building and bell tower the
city’s symbol. Firehouse No. . is a first-class historical museum and its collection is as diverse and unique as the city. It is
the only museum operated by the Nevada County Historical .
Society that focuses primarily on the artifacts, antiques and
personal items that demonstrate how ordinary Californians
lived in nineteenth-century mining camps.
From the exterior the historic 1861 building has not seen
many changes in the last decade, but the two floors inside received a major facelift in 2007, with many enhancements,
refurbishments and additions to the collection.
Museum Director and Curator, Wallace “Cowboy Wally”
Hagaman undertook the major renovation project in 2007, the
museum’s 60th anniversary, with the help of a handful of creative and hard-working volunteer members of the Nevada
County Historical Society. During the winter and spring the
group disassembled shelves, display cases and exhibits in order to make improvements and incorporate new items for display.
The second floor of the museum was closed down first, and
hundreds of items were taken out of glass cases to be washed,
cleaned, repaired and re-cataloged. Wooden shelving was removed from exhibit cases and replaced with glass shelving in
order to display the items to their best advantage. Walls and
wooden cases were painted, and a set of glass doors was added
to the large display case containing nineteenth-century wedding attire and women’s fashion items.
A highlight of this collection is the gown that Ellen Clark™
Sargent, wife of the United States Senator from Nevada City,
wore at the court of Kaiser Wilhelm in Germany in 1870.
Ellen Sargent was involved in the local Woman’s Suffrage
From the Nevada Journal of June 14, 1861:
HOSE Co. No. 1.The members of Hose Company No. 1,
met at their new hall on Tuesday evening and elected officers
for the ensuing term. John Pattison was re-elected Foreman;
G. A. Church, Assistant; M. L. Marsh, President; Wm. H.
Crawford, Treasurer; M. H. Funston, Secretary; A. D. Tower,
A. H. Hagadorn and W. B. Barton, Delegates; J. A. Lancaster,
Trustee. L. W. Williams was nominated for the office of first
Assistant Engineer of the fire department.
From the Nevada Democrat of June 22, 1861:
FIREMAN’S FLAG—We learn that the Nevada Hose Company are having manufactured a magnificent American flag,
twelve by eighteen feet in size, which will soon be waving
over the company’s house.
From the Morning Transcript of June 29, 1861:
TALL SQUIRTING—The boys of Nevada Hose Company
No. . got their machine out, day before yesterday, to see how
far she would squirt with the pressure afforded by Mr. Marsh’s
water works. With an inch and a half nozzle she threw a stream
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