There's a lot of history to be seen in the Centerport Fire Department's museum. The highlight of the museum is the
horse drawn hand pumper. This unique piece of fire fighting apparatus has been lovingly restored to it's original front line
status by Warren Neuman, a Centerport Resident.
Many of the historic pieces in the museum have an historic connection to the original Vanderbilt family, including the original Ambulance donated by William K. Vanderbilt, who was a frequent visitor to the old fire house and an associate member of the department.
The Centerport Fire Department band holds an honored spot in the history of the department, too. Along with the musical instruments and uniforms, there are pictures of the 35 member band of many many years ago. Current 50+ year member Earl Sammis recalls that he played the trumpet and alto horn in the band in 1932. There are also many scrap books and picture albums from "The Old days".
It is very hard to list the many things in the museum. There is so much history in there. A few of the things that stick out are the original fire alarm box from the first fire house, the glass fireballs filled with water that were shot at a fire, lots of original hose nozzles and fittings, and of course we cannot forget the original siren box that was hand operated and sounds more like a hurt bull than a siren as compared to today's sirens. We at Centerport welcome visitors to the museum to come share with us the history of this waterside town and its Volunteer Fire Department.