Old Firehouse & Police Museum — Attraction in Superior

My great-grandfather was an assistant fire chief in Superior and worked at this firehouse. The first time I visited this museum, I was thrilled to see his image and name on a large framed poster of the 1914 Superior Fire Department. The SFD's "unofficial historian," David Johnson, happened to be there to show my family around. That was in 2002. Sadly, each time I've seen the museum since, it's been a disappointment. Those who work there don't seem to know much about the firehouse or its history, or even care enough to keep the place safe—during one visit, I was told that someone had left the windows open during a storm, causing a number of pictures to be ruined. Museum visitors are on their own to either poke around randomly or take a self-guided tour, for what it's worth. The first floor, which houses a collection of vehicles and equipment, is okay. On the second floor, instead of setting the place up as it might have looked back in the day (pick a date), you'll find a mishmash of police and fire department history from whenever, poorly labeled or not labeled at all, spread across several rooms. Lining the walls of one room are portraits of little to no significance to the average visitor—why? In the main room, a large table filled with upside-down chairs held a sign that said something (very little, actually) about fire extinguishers; the museum's collection of fire extinguishers was on the first floor. There's a row of built-in wooden lockers, but a sign says not to open them--where's the fun in that? Behind a display case holding loosely related items was hiding another, falling-apart display case. The turret that once contained the fire hoses was boarded up, as was the hole the firemen used to slide down to the first floor. Obviously this was done for safety reasons, but that could have been accomplished with plexiglass. Imagining the men sliding down that brass pole when the alarm sounded is what brings the place to life--or would, if only we could see it (as I did nearly...

We checked the calendar to make sure we were going to visit at a time they were open. We showed up at 1pm... They were listed to be open from 12 to 4pm. No one was there. We called the number. At first the person was like "oh that's no longer open" as if it was closed forever or something so we were like but there's a calendar on the door that says when you're open and then the story changed to "oh the person that was supposed to work today called in".... That's fantastic but they should at least put a sign on the door or... I don't know.... Have backup staff?? Very...

Fire House history comes to life there in Superior WI! Just looking at the outside then walking in was like walking in a phone booth with Bill and Ted!! They have lots of cool old fire gear, beds and lockers. The negatives were not enough interaction things to get through to kids, and gift shop lacks in sizes and supplies. With just some small details this could...