The Fire Museum of Maryland is one of the largest fire museums in America. Located in Lutherville, just north of Baltimore City, the Museum is a leading institution in preserving, restoring, and interpreting the history of the urban fire service in the United States.

The Fire Museum of Maryland grew from a private collection of fire engines, apparatus and fire related materials that had been amassed over more than forty years by the Stephen G. Heaver family.

Founded in 1971, the museum houses a world-class collection with more than forty pieces of fire fighting apparatus dating from 1806 to 1957. The collection also includes over 1,700 smaller artifacts, an extensive working telegraph system, and a large archive and library with over 13,000 documents, catalogues, photographs, negatives and books.

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Built in 1910 of brick with stone trim in Tudor style, Fire Engine House No. 36 celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. Designed by architects Ellicott & Emmart and built by the Fidelity Construction Co., Engine House No. 36 reflected Baltimore's investment in modern fire-fighting facilities and technology in the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Ellicott & Emmart worked on a number of public buildings around this same period including Primary School No. 37 (located at E. Biddle St. and N. Patterson Park Ave.) and the Forest Park Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library (1912).

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The handsome Tudor Revival turrets of the Poppleton Fire Station (Engine House #38) stand out next to the modern glass facades of the University of Maryland BioPark on Baltimore Street. Designed by local architects Benjamin Buck Owens and Spencer E. Sisco, the station opened in 1910 equipped with the most modern fire-fighting tools available.

After the tragedy of Great Baltimore Fire destroyed much of the city's downtown in 1904, the Baltimore Fire Department grew quickly and built scores of new firehouses. A close look above the building's arched entrance reveals a small tribute to the bravery of the Fire Department’s mission with a stone carving of firemen racing to extinguish a fire.

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Founded in 1799, Oldtown’s Independent Fire Company maintained their Independent No. 6 engine house at Gay and Ensor Streets for over fifty years. In 1853, the company tore down their original engine house and replaced it with the present home of the Baltimore City Fire Museum with its distinctive six story bell and clock tower. Designed by Baltimore architects Reasin and Weatherald, the firehouse is unique in Baltimore’s architecture. The 103-foot Italianate-Gothic tower was copied from Giotto’s campanile in Florence, Italy and features a cast iron “skeleton”—an early example of this material in use for structural purposes. The newly formed Baltimore City Fire Department purchased the building in 1859 for $8,000, when it became known as Engine House No. 6. The firehouse’s apparatus was a steam engine weighing 8,600 pounds named, appropriately, the “Deluge.” In 1893, all members of the City’s fire department were paid, which ended the grade of “callman.” This silenced firehouse bells, which were used to summon the callmen. Many bells were given to churches, but Engine 6 hung on to its bell and it became a source of pride to Oldtown’s citizens. Oldtown, on the east side of the Jones Falls, did not see damage from the Great Fire of 1904. Firemen pumped water from the Jones Falls to quell the advance of the flames—a move which saved east side landmarks such as the Phoenix Shot Tower. Engine House No. 6 also served as emergency hospital as the Sun reported at the time, “The upper floor of the engine house resembled an army field hospital in war time, with its scores of brawny men with seared and blackened faces and their tattered remnants of blue uniforms.” In 1970, the tower was restored and the station remained in active service until 1976, when the Oldtown Memorial Fire Station (now the Thomas J. Burke Fire Station) became the home of Engine 6. In 1979, the old station became the home of the Baltimore Fire Museum and the Box 414 Association.

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