www.mybaycity.com August 11, 2019
Columns Article 11567

FIREHOUSE MUSEUM- Collection May Be Moved Downtown

August 11, 2019
By: Dave Rogers


Owner/collector Jimmie Dobson, in an exclusive report to MyBayCity.com, announces the donation of his Antique Toy and Firetruck collection to the community.

Plans reportedly in the works to move the museum downtown to a former firehouse on Washington Avenue.

Now located on Patterson Road in Bangor Township, Dobson's 25,000-square-foot museum has more than 12,000 antique and collectible toys and one of the largest collections of fire trucks and mechanized equipment in the world. He has 70 fire trucks dating to 1854. Some are on loan from Saginaw's Castle Museum. The highlight, he said, is a 1963 FD Super Pumper, the largest land-based fire truck in the world. Built for New York City, it is capable of pumping 8,800 gallons of water per minute.

Among exhibits include the NASCAR Room -- the room has almost every model collectible toy car ever raced. The Tonka Room. This collection has been recognized as the largest collection of Tonka toys and trucks in the world! Dobson, 91, opened the museum in 2006. A NASCAR room is dedicated to his son, Jeffrey Dobson, a racing fan who died of heart disease.

In the middle of the room sits a pace car his son drove.There are horse drawn ladder carts, hand pumpers and steam pumpers from the 1800's.

About 60 motorized fire trucks on display, with the oldest being a 1914 International, which is believed to be the oldest operating motorized fire truck in the world.

The pride and joy of the collection, the New York City Super-Pumper, which is the largest land based fire truck ever built. The Super Pumper could deliver 8,800 gals of water per minute for a distance of more than a 1/4 of a mile. The roar of its powerful engine would echo for miles.

Special rooms feature Snap-On Tools and Coca-Cola collectibles, a hand painted 9/11 Memorial, Antique Alarm System and much more.

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