Fire Hall Museum & Education Centre
Cambridge, Ontario

Located in a fire hall built in 1898, the Fire Hall Museum & Education Centre in Cambridge, Ontario opened in 2004 after two decades of researching fire fighting history, collecting artifacts, and lobbying for municipal support. The City of Cambridge owns the building, having restored its exterior and renovated the interior – an historic and modern City Hall are each located next door. The fire hall is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as a property of architectural and historical significance.

 

The museum’s operation is overseen by a not-for-profit charitable organization run by a community-based board of directors, assisted by dozens of volunteers. The museum recruits many of its volunteers from the Pre-Service Firefighter training program at nearby Conestoga College. Admission to the museum is free, with financial support from the City, donations by visitors, and revenue from a small gift shop.

 

The City of Cambridge is located about 60 miles west of Toronto, or 93 miles northwest from the Canada/USA border at Fort Erie/Buffalo. The City was created in 1973 after a restructuring of municipal governments; the City of Galt, Town of Preston, and Town of Hespeler were amalgamated into the new City of Cambridge.

 

With limited public hours – three hours on Saturday mornings year-round when the nearby farmers’ market is open – the museum had an amazing attendance of more than 10,000 visitors in 2025. On Saturday mornings the museum is a hub for families, with dozens of adults and children of all ages participating in hands-on activities such as learning to tie knots, trying on bunker gear and helmets, playing with toy fire trucks, and colouring safety messages.
 

Throughout the year, the museum emphasizes teaching fire safety and emergency preparedness to children and adults. In partnership with the Cambridge Fire Department, an on-duty crew and truck visit the museum on Saturday mornings during the summer and fall months – a popular attraction with visitors; and the museum participates in Emergency Preparedness Week and Fire Prevention Week activities each year.

 

The museum’s collection includes a wide range of firefighting tools and equipment, uniforms, helmets and badges from around the world, photographs, copies and transcripts of newspaper articles about local firefighting beginning in the 1840s, and a small reference library. One of the highlights of the museum’s collection is a restored Bickle-Seagrave pumper made in Woodstock, Ontario. The City of Galt purchased the truck in 1938 – it sits in the same spot, in the same fire hall, as it has since it entered service.

 

Cataloguing the collection is an ongoing challenge. The museum uses Recollector – an inexpensive and easy to use database – to manage its artifact collection.

 

Long-term exhibits at the museum include the history of the three original fire departments and the City’s fire department since it was formed in 1973; tools of the trade including uniforms, turnout gear, and hand tools; the distribution of water to fight fires, e.g., watermains, hydrants, pumps, and fire hose; communication and dispatch; the history of floods in the community; and women in firefighting. Recent temporary exhibits have focused on a devastating flood in 1974, disasters in the community, and significant fires in each of the former municipalities that now make up the City.

 

The Fire Hall Museum & Education Centre can be found at 56 Dickson Street in Cambridge, Ontario, online at www.firehallmuseum.ca, and on Facebook.