Historic Seattle takes you to two little-known gems that preserve the visual record of the city’s efforts to “Preserve and Protect.”

Our first stop is the Last Resort Fire Department (LRFD), located in the Seattle Fire Department Headquarters in Pioneer Square, built in 1928— a four-story, ten-bay facility that for 80 years had been the home of both SFD Headquarters and Fire Station #10.  Began in 1969, the LRFD stewards the largest collection of antique motorized fire apparatus in the Pacific Northwest and is dedicated to the acquisition, restoration, preservation, and display of classic antique motorized fire apparatus. The collection consists primarily of retired Seattle Fire Department (SFD) apparatus and equipment, along with hundreds of historic photographs, alarm equipment, station furnishings, nozzles, extinguishers, helmets, and several items unique to the SFD.  Galen Thomaier, who started collecting fire trucks with his father, will be our presenter. For those who are interested in learning and seeing more of the collection, Historic Seattle will arrange for small groups to visit the maintenance facility, which currently houses 12 rigs, including pumpers, city service ladder trucks, and tillered aerials, as well as most of its irreplaceable records collections and photographs.

Our second stop, open only by appointment, is the Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum. It brings the history of policing in the Pacific Northwest to life.  The Museum is the official repository for the historical artifacts of the Seattle Police Department and the King County Sheriff’s Office dating back to the 1880’s.  Historic photographs, documents, weaponry, uniforms, and a variety of other artifacts are on public display, as well as information on some of the regions’ most notorious crime cases.  The museum also has vintage interactive displays, including a 9-1-1 dispatcher console and historic jail cell.

Photo: Last Resort Fire Department Museum, courtesy of Galen Thomaier

This program is sold out.