This museum is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral. It is housed in a building that once housed the city's main (and, initially, its only) firehouse. The building where the museum is located, has been heralded both for its historical and architectural roles in Puerto Rican society. Historically, it was Puerto Rico's first ever fire station.[4] The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[5]
As municipal firehouses in Puerto Rico were reorganized into a commonwealth-level agency in 1943, called the Firemen Services of Puerto Rico,[6] a more modern spacious firehouse was built in the 1960s a block from Parque de Bombas. The new modern firehouse, now itself occupied by Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos, displaced the now-historic Parque de Bombas into more of a supportive and administrative firefighting role, whereas the new firehouse, located at Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor streets, became the main firehouse for the town.
In 1990, after 108 years of uninterrupted service as a firehouse, the Parque de Bombas firehouse was turned into the Museo Parque de Bombas. The museum traces the people and events of the Ponce firefighters throughout its history. The museum opened under the administration of Mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago. The architect who rebuilt and reconditioned the structure into a museum in 1990 was Pablo Ojeda O'Neill.[2] At over 100,000 visitors per year, it is Ponce's most visited museum, and Puerto Rico's second most visited landmark, after Castillo El Morro.[7]
You may see a video of Museo Parque de Bombas and Plaza Las Delicias HERE
The structure housing the museum was built in 1881, as the main exhibit pavilion for the 1882 Exhibition Trade Fair.[8] A Spanish Army soldier, Lt. Colonel Maximo de Meana y Guridi[9][10] who was also a trained architect, was commissioned in Puerto Rico at the time. The Madrid-based central government assigned Meana the task of designing and constructing the building. The building was unveiled during the 1882 Ponce Fair.[11] The Fair's participants used the building as its main pavilion. The first brigade of firemen to work in the building were stationed there on 2 February 1883.[12]
The station continued to serve the city of Ponce until 1990, ending its 108-year history as an active fire station. On that year, the station's fire-fighting duties were transferred to the more spacious fire station at Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor streets, and the building was officially converted into a fire-fighting museum. The restoration of the building into a museum took place under the guidance of Pablo Ojeda O'Neill, an experienced local museum curator.[13] Restoration cost was US$140,000.[14] Nowadays, a photo of the 1883 firefighters hangs on the walls of Museo Parque de Bombas. In 1983, the 100th anniversary of the brigade's victory over the infamous fire was commemorated at the station. Various artifacts used by the 1882 fire brigade are on display at the museum. Among these are some artifacts used to combat the 1899 "El Polvorín" fire. There are also artifacts of historical significance. Even before its 1990 closure, the station had already become a major tourist attraction, and some of the firemen would give visitors free station tours voluntarily when they were not attending to emergencies. The Ponce firefighters' museum is still known generally as Parque de Bombas and, according to some estimates, it is one of Ponce's most visited tourist attractions.[15]
ExhibitionsEdit
Antique fire truck at the MuseumFire fighting equipment of former fire fighters at the Museum
The exhibitions in the museum are divided into three major halls. The Dispatch and Transportation Hall is located on the first floor, and the Equipment Hall and the Historical Records Hall are on the second floor.
Dispatch and transportation hallEdit
This hall consists of a small dispatch area showing the place with the firefighter officer where emergency calls were received and relayed to the firefighting personnel (their sleeping quarters were on the upstairs floor) as well as the equipment used in fighting fires in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Located here are some of the pumps used to hand pump the water during a fire. Also here is an old firetruck dating from the first half of the 20th century. As a museum, the old dispatch area is now used as the museum's visitors' reception area.
Firefighting equipment hallEdit
Fire equipment at Museum
This Hall is located on the southern side of the museum's second floor and, when the firehouse was operational, it was part of the firefighters' sleeping quarters. Located here are original axes, picks, bells, bugles and other such equipment as was used when the firehouse was fully operational in the nineteenth and first half to mid twentieth century. There are several firefighter uniforms, including their official Ponce Firefighters patch, as well as accompanying helmets and boots.
Historical records hallEdit
Fire history hall at the museum
This hall is located on the northern side of the museum's second floor, and it covers what was also part of the former sleeping quarters of the Ponce firefighters. In this hall the museum displays memorabilia related to the Ponce firefighters and their organizational structure. Through framed pictures, it traces the history of Ponce firefighters and some its major fires. Prominently displayed are group and individual pictures of the members of the Ponce Firefighters Corps. In addition to groups portraits of the firefighters corps visitors can see portraits of figures such as Firefighters Band director Domingo Cruz ("Cocolía") and firefighters medical director physician Dr. Rafael Pujals.
In 1820, two great fires affected the city of Ponce. One destroyed great part of the center of the city; and the other gutted 80% of Ponce's port zone, paralyzing all commercial trade to the southern section of Puerto Rico.[6] This exhibit includes response to two major fires those that took place in the city in 1820,[16][17] and in March 1845.[17][18][19][20]
Another large fire included in this exhibit is the one that occurred on 25 January 1899. This was a large fire (later dubbed "El Polvorin") which threatened the lives of Ponceños as well as the economy of Puerto Rico as a whole, given Ponce's de facto role as Puerto Rico's banking and agricultural capital. A painting in the Museo Parque de Bombas commemorates the heroic acts of seven courageous "bomberos" and one civilian who fought bravely against the voracious fire that threatened the region. Disobeying orders from the American troops that had recently taken control of Puerto Rico, the group was able to control the flames that had started inside the U.S. Army’s gunpowder reserves. For their courage, disaster was narrowly averted.[21] For their success battling the fire, the group was honored many times both in Ponce and the rest of Puerto Rico. A few yards from Parque de Bombas, on Plaza Federico Degetau, sits an obelisk to their memory, and at the Cementerio Civil de Ponce (Ponce Civil Cemetery) a mausoleum was erected in 1911 to their memory where all seven heroes were eventually interred.[12][22] Later on, the Parque de Bombas building was painted in Ponce's traditional city colors, red and black. A series of homes built a few years later for the firefighters and their families on 25 de Enero Street were also painted in these colors also.
A sad event in the history of this museum is the disappearance of an important historical document during 1975 restoration of Parque de Bombas. The document was the original (and so far only known copy) of the Proclamation of the "Heroes de El Polvorin" made by the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly in 1906. In the Proclamation, seven firefighters and one civilian were declared heroes by Puerto Rico's highest national legislative body.[23][24][25]
^Reinaldo E. Gonzalez Blanco. El Turismo Cultural en Ponce durante el Plan Ponce en Marcha, 1900-2000. Neysa Rodriguez Deynes, Editor. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Professional Editions. 2018. p.65. ISBN978-1-64131-139-7
^ abCaminata Guiada: Centro Historico de Ponce page 6.[dead link]
^Municipio de Ponce. Enciclopedia Puerto Rico. 2017. Editorial Enciclopedia Puerto Rico. Accessed 6 February 2019.
^Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico. Kurt Pitzer and Tara Stevens. Page 226. Accessed 30 March 2018.
^National Register of Historic Places. Accessed. 31 July 2009.
^ abArmando Morales-Pares, State Architect, and Abelardo Gonzalez-Architect, State Historic Preservation Office, 23 May 1984. In National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form – Parque de Bombas de Ponce – (Ponce Firehouse). United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 3. Listing Reference Number 84003150. 12 July 1984.
^Reinaldo E. Gonzalez Blanco. “El turismo Cultural en Ponce durante el Plan Ponce en Marcha, 1990-2000). p. 66. Ed. Neysa Rodrigues Deynes. 2018. Ponce, PR: Professional Editions.
^Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rico Channel. Tour the Old Ponce Firehouse Museum. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
^US National Park Service: Historic Places in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
^Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico. Kurt Pitzer and Tara Stevens. Edison, New Jersey: Hunter Publishing. 2001. Page 226. ISBN1-58843-116-9.
^ abHacen justicia con héroes del Polvorín. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 30. Issue 1469. 25 January 2012. Page 22. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
^Architecture in Puerto Rico. Magaly Rivera. Accessed 11 March 2020.
^"The Pleasures of Ponce Puerto Rico". www.offbeattravel.com. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
^Caminata Guiada Centro Historico de Ponce: Calle Isabel II. (In Spanish)[permanent dead link] Retrieved 4 December 2009.
^ abVerdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce.' By Dr. Eduardo Neumann. 1913. (In Spanish) Reprinted by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (1987)Page 194.
^James C. Massey, Exec. Vice Pres., and Shirley Maxwell, Associate, National Preservation Institute (National Building Museum) Washington, D.C. and the Federal Historic Preservation Office, U.S. Department of the Treasury. (Washington, D.C.) January 7, 1988. In National Register of Historic Places Registration Form – U.S. Custom House, Ponce. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Section 8, Page 3. Listing Reference Number 88000073. 10 February 1988.
^Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Municipalities. Vieques: Restauration(sic) Project Fortín Conde de Mirasol. 16 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 20 November 2009.
^Puerto Rico. Cuerpo de Bomberos. Historia. Datos Historicos. December 15, 2005, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 30 November 2009.
^Parque de Bombas at EyeTour.com. Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
^Heroism of Firefighters Still Ignites Civic Pride. Charles Hillinger. "Charles Hillinger's America." Los Angeles Times. 22 April 1990. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
^Album Histórico de Ponce Ruth Fortuño Sellés. Accessed 16 May 2018.
^Ponce conmemora 110 años de los héroes del Polvorín. Jose Fernandez Colon. Associated Press. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 24 January 2009. Accessed 16 May 2018.
^Premio a héroes del Polvorín sigue desaparecido. Boletín Informático de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico. 26 January 2005. 21 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
External linksEdit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museo Parque de Bombas.
National Register of Historic Places photographic file
Historical information about the station
Site Video & Contact Info at EyeTour Puerto Rico
October 21, 2023
museo, parque, bombas, this, article, about, museum, building, housing, museum, parque, bombas, parque, bombas, museum, museum, located, inside, historic, parque, bombas, ponce, historic, zone, ponce, puerto, rico, parque, bombas, firehouse, museum, plaza, del. This article is about the Museum For the building housing the museum see Parque de Bombas Museo Parque de Bombas 3 Parque de Bombas Museum is a museum located inside the historic Parque de Bombas in the Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce Puerto Rico Museo Parque de BombasMuseo Parque de Bombas Parque de Bombas firehouse museum on Plaza Las DeliciasMuseo Parque de BombasLocation within Puerto RicoEstablished1990LocationPlaza Las Delicias Ponce Puerto RicoCoordinates18 00 43 N 66 36 49 W 18 011905 N 66 613738 W 18 011905 66 613738TypeFirefighting museumCollectionsEquipment Records and Dispatch amp TransportationVisitors88 837 2000 1 FounderRafael Cordero SantiagoCuratorArch Pablo Ojeda O Neill 2 OwnerAutonomous Municipality of PoncePublic transit accessSITRASWebsiteWebsiteThis museum is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square directly behind the Ponce Cathedral It is housed in a building that once housed the city s main and initially its only firehouse The building where the museum is located has been heralded both for its historical and architectural roles in Puerto Rican society Historically it was Puerto Rico s first ever fire station 4 The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places 5 As municipal firehouses in Puerto Rico were reorganized into a commonwealth level agency in 1943 called the Firemen Services of Puerto Rico 6 a more modern spacious firehouse was built in the 1960s a block from Parque de Bombas The new modern firehouse now itself occupied by Instituto de Musica Juan Morel Campos displaced the now historic Parque de Bombas into more of a supportive and administrative firefighting role whereas the new firehouse located at Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor streets became the main firehouse for the town In 1990 after 108 years of uninterrupted service as a firehouse the Parque de Bombas firehouse was turned into the Museo Parque de Bombas The museum traces the people and events of the Ponce firefighters throughout its history The museum opened under the administration of Mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago The architect who rebuilt and reconditioned the structure into a museum in 1990 was Pablo Ojeda O Neill 2 At over 100 000 visitors per year it is Ponce s most visited museum and Puerto Rico s second most visited landmark after Castillo El Morro 7 Contents 1 History 2 Exhibitions 2 1 Dispatch and transportation hall 2 2 Firefighting equipment hall 2 3 Historical records hall 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditMain article Parque de Bombas nbsp Museum Admission RulesExternal audio nbsp You may see a video of Museo Parque de Bombas and Plaza Las Delicias HEREThe structure housing the museum was built in 1881 as the main exhibit pavilion for the 1882 Exhibition Trade Fair 8 A Spanish Army soldier Lt Colonel Maximo de Meana y Guridi 9 10 who was also a trained architect was commissioned in Puerto Rico at the time The Madrid based central government assigned Meana the task of designing and constructing the building The building was unveiled during the 1882 Ponce Fair 11 The Fair s participants used the building as its main pavilion The first brigade of firemen to work in the building were stationed there on 2 February 1883 12 The station continued to serve the city of Ponce until 1990 ending its 108 year history as an active fire station On that year the station s fire fighting duties were transferred to the more spacious fire station at Calle Cristina and Calle Mayor streets and the building was officially converted into a fire fighting museum The restoration of the building into a museum took place under the guidance of Pablo Ojeda O Neill an experienced local museum curator 13 Restoration cost was US 140 000 14 Nowadays a photo of the 1883 firefighters hangs on the walls of Museo Parque de Bombas In 1983 the 100th anniversary of the brigade s victory over the infamous fire was commemorated at the station Various artifacts used by the 1882 fire brigade are on display at the museum Among these are some artifacts used to combat the 1899 El Polvorin fire There are also artifacts of historical significance Even before its 1990 closure the station had already become a major tourist attraction and some of the firemen would give visitors free station tours voluntarily when they were not attending to emergencies The Ponce firefighters museum is still known generally as Parque de Bombas and according to some estimates it is one of Ponce s most visited tourist attractions 15 Exhibitions Edit nbsp Antique fire truck at the Museum nbsp Fire fighting equipment of former fire fighters at the MuseumThe exhibitions in the museum are divided into three major halls The Dispatch and Transportation Hall is located on the first floor and the Equipment Hall and the Historical Records Hall are on the second floor Dispatch and transportation hall Edit This hall consists of a small dispatch area showing the place with the firefighter officer where emergency calls were received and relayed to the firefighting personnel their sleeping quarters were on the upstairs floor as well as the equipment used in fighting fires in the 19th and first half of the 20th century Located here are some of the pumps used to hand pump the water during a fire Also here is an old firetruck dating from the first half of the 20th century As a museum the old dispatch area is now used as the museum s visitors reception area Firefighting equipment hall Edit nbsp Fire equipment at MuseumThis Hall is located on the southern side of the museum s second floor and when the firehouse was operational it was part of the firefighters sleeping quarters Located here are original axes picks bells bugles and other such equipment as was used when the firehouse was fully operational in the nineteenth and first half to mid twentieth century There are several firefighter uniforms including their official Ponce Firefighters patch as well as accompanying helmets and boots Historical records hall Edit nbsp Fire history hall at the museumThis hall is located on the northern side of the museum s second floor and it covers what was also part of the former sleeping quarters of the Ponce firefighters In this hall the museum displays memorabilia related to the Ponce firefighters and their organizational structure Through framed pictures it traces the history of Ponce firefighters and some its major fires Prominently displayed are group and individual pictures of the members of the Ponce Firefighters Corps In addition to groups portraits of the firefighters corps visitors can see portraits of figures such as Firefighters Band director Domingo Cruz Cocolia and firefighters medical director physician Dr Rafael Pujals In 1820 two great fires affected the city of Ponce One destroyed great part of the center of the city and the other gutted 80 of Ponce s port zone paralyzing all commercial trade to the southern section of Puerto Rico 6 This exhibit includes response to two major fires those that took place in the city in 1820 16 17 and in March 1845 17 18 19 20 nbsp Firefighter homes on Calle 25 de Enero street May 2006 nbsp Firefighters mausoleum in Cementerio Civil de Ponce nbsp Obelisk to firefighters near the museumAnother large fire included in this exhibit is the one that occurred on 25 January 1899 This was a large fire later dubbed El Polvorin which threatened the lives of Poncenos as well as the economy of Puerto Rico as a whole given Ponce s de facto role as Puerto Rico s banking and agricultural capital A painting in the Museo Parque de Bombas commemorates the heroic acts of seven courageous bomberos and one civilian who fought bravely against the voracious fire that threatened the region Disobeying orders from the American troops that had recently taken control of Puerto Rico the group was able to control the flames that had started inside the U S Army s gunpowder reserves For their courage disaster was narrowly averted 21 For their success battling the fire the group was honored many times both in Ponce and the rest of Puerto Rico A few yards from Parque de Bombas on Plaza Federico Degetau sits an obelisk to their memory and at the Cementerio Civil de Ponce Ponce Civil Cemetery a mausoleum was erected in 1911 to their memory where all seven heroes were eventually interred 12 22 Later on the Parque de Bombas building was painted in Ponce s traditional city colors red and black A series of homes built a few years later for the firefighters and their families on 25 de Enero Street were also painted in these colors also A sad event in the history of this museum is the disappearance of an important historical document during 1975 restoration of Parque de Bombas The document was the original and so far only known copy of the Proclamation of the Heroes de El Polvorin made by the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly in 1906 In the Proclamation seven firefighters and one civilian were declared heroes by Puerto Rico s highest national legislative body 23 24 25 See also Edit nbsp Puerto Rico portalMonumento a los heroes de El Polvorin obelisk Monumento a los heroes de El Polvorin mausoleum Parque de Bombas Calle 25 de EneroReferences Edit Reinaldo E Gonzalez Blanco El Turismo Cultural en Ponce durante el Plan Ponce en Marcha 1900 2000 Neysa Rodriguez Deynes Editor Ponce Puerto Rico Professional Editions 2018 p 65 ISBN 978 1 64131 139 7 a b Caminata Guiada Centro Historico de Ponce page 6 dead link Municipio de Ponce Enciclopedia Puerto Rico 2017 Editorial Enciclopedia Puerto Rico Accessed 6 February 2019 Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico Kurt Pitzer and Tara Stevens Page 226 Accessed 30 March 2018 National Register of Historic Places Accessed 31 July 2009 a b Armando Morales Pares State Architect and Abelardo Gonzalez Architect State Historic Preservation Office 23 May 1984 In National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form Parque de Bombas de Ponce Ponce Firehouse United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Washington D C Page 3 Listing Reference Number 84003150 12 July 1984 Reinaldo E Gonzalez Blanco El turismo Cultural en Ponce durante el Plan Ponce en Marcha 1990 2000 p 66 Ed Neysa Rodrigues Deynes 2018 Ponce PR Professional Editions National Park Service Ponce s Parque de Bombas Puerto Rico The Puerto Rico Channel Tour the Old Ponce Firehouse Museum Retrieved 28 June 2009 US National Park Service Historic Places in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Retrieved 28 June 2009 Adventure Guide to Puerto Rico Kurt Pitzer and Tara Stevens Edison New Jersey Hunter Publishing 2001 Page 226 ISBN 1 58843 116 9 a b Hacen justicia con heroes del Polvorin Reinaldo Millan La Perla del Sur Ponce Puerto Rico Year 30 Issue 1469 25 January 2012 Page 22 Retrieved 26 January 2012 Caminata Guiada Centro Historico de Ponce permanent dead link Architecture in Puerto Rico Magaly Rivera Accessed 11 March 2020 The Pleasures of Ponce Puerto Rico www offbeattravel com Retrieved 24 February 2018 Caminata Guiada Centro Historico de Ponce Calle Isabel II In Spanish permanent dead link Retrieved 4 December 2009 a b Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce By Dr Eduardo Neumann 1913 In Spanish Reprinted by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena 1987 Page 194 James C Massey Exec Vice Pres and Shirley Maxwell Associate National Preservation Institute National Building Museum Washington D C and the Federal Historic Preservation Office U S Department of the Treasury Washington D C January 7 1988 In National Register of Historic Places Registration Form U S Custom House Ponce United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Washington D C Section 8 Page 3 Listing Reference Number 88000073 10 February 1988 Puerto Rico Encyclopedia Municipalities Vieques Restauration sic Project Fortin Conde de Mirasol Archived 16 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 20 November 2009 Puerto Rico Cuerpo de Bomberos Historia Datos Historicos Archived December 15 2005 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 30 November 2009 Parque de Bombas at EyeTour com Puerto Rico Tourism Company Retrieved 26 April 2010 Heroism of Firefighters Still Ignites Civic Pride Charles Hillinger Charles Hillinger s America Los Angeles Times 22 April 1990 Retrieved 25 January 2012 Album Historico de Ponce Ruth Fortuno Selles Accessed 16 May 2018 Ponce conmemora 110 anos de los heroes del Polvorin Jose Fernandez Colon Associated Press Ponce Puerto Rico 24 January 2009 Accessed 16 May 2018 Premio a heroes del Polvorin sigue desaparecido Boletin Informatico de la Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Puerto Rico 26 January 2005 Archived 21 February 2010 at the Wayback MachineExternal links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museo Parque de Bombas National Register of Historic Places photographic file Photo of the station Historical information about the station Site Video amp Contact Info at EyeTour Puerto Rico Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Museo Parque de Bombas amp oldid 1168253777, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
