JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The arrival of the USS Orleck was not the only big move happening in the city on Saturday. The Jacksonville Fire Museum is setting up shop in its new (old) home along Bay Street.
The museum rolled down Bay Street with the help of a large dolly, joining the Shipyards for a coming “Museum District,” serving as a neighbor to the newly arrived USS Orleck and the coming Museum of Science and History.
As part of the move, Bay Street will be closed from A. Philip Randolph Boulevard to Liberty Street from 6 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday.
The museum originally opened on the same part of Catherine Street near the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office headquarters in the late 1970s before moving to Kids Kampus in the early ’90s. Once it’s returned to the corner of East Bay and Catherine Street, it is expected to be placed on its new foundation, and then additional work will have to be done before the museum can reopen.
RELATED: USS Orleck arrives in Jacksonville
Dr. Wayne Wood sits on the board of directors for the museum and considers it a great Jacksonville landmark.
“We have a 1902 LaVance steam engine, I hook and ladder from the 1920s, it has an exhibit about the Great Fire of 1901 with all this fine fire memorabilia,” Wood said.
According to Wood, the building was built in 1902 after the Great Fire.
It opened as a fire station for African American firefighters until 1905 when it closed.
It re-opened for white firefighters a short time later before closing again in 1926, becoming a storage facility.
Wood said the museum has been closed for the last six years because it needed significant repairs. The expectation is for its doors to open again in a year.
“Now we are going to see it just as it should be with a front door facing the street with fire engines parked out front,” Wood said.
The move is making retired firefighter Jerry Barber happy.
“It’s really exciting to me because I am 83 years old and I did not get to see the first move when it moved it down to the park and I want to see it when it was going back to where the original place was,” Barber said.
Barber served with JFRD for 32 years. This museum has sentimental value.
“It has quite a bit of material in there that people would be interested in. I want to see the kids have an opportunity to get in there,” Barber said.
The move will also pave the way for the new Four Season’s Hotel planned by Jaguars owner Shad Khan.