The NYC Fire Museum’s roots date back to December 1870 when it was established in Fire Department Headquarters at 155 Mercer Street. between Prince and Houston Streets in Manhattan. Exactly when it was dismantled is not documented but was most likely at the time that headquarters were relocated to East 67th Street in the late 1880s. When the NYC Fire College was established in the Packard Building at 32-02 Queens Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens, Chief John McKenna ordered that the relics be set up as a museum, along with a library, on the building’s seventh floor. A better home was secured in 1948 in the new FDNY apparatus repair shops at 48-58 35th Street in Long Island City. It remained there until 1958 when a bay was vacated at the quarters of Engine Company 7 and Hook & Ladder Company 1 at 100 Duane Street in Manhattan. This location made it much easier for the general public to visit the impressive array of artifacts exhibited on two floors of the firehouse.