Historic Hallowell

Musters were a popular firemen's event that started in the early 1850’s. With a gathering of antique equipment for the use of competition and display, musters were a source of games, family bonding, new friendships, carnivals, teamwork, joking around, barbecues and other food brought by people. Musters would have brought business to local stores and united people who normally never would have met. Awards were handed out to winners of different competitions. There were two different categories of awards: department awards and private owned awards. Department awards were awarded to the fire department with the best kept trucks, pumps, or anything along those lines.

To this day, Hallowell’s old muster awards still sit in the fire department building. The private owned category was for people who owned cars or some motorized, old, mechanical machine. Most contests were between teams of firemen. Back when musters first started, women were never allowed to be firefighters or volunteers. The competitions usually were centered around fire department activities. Sometimes they would compete to see who could get in and out of all the fire uniforms fastest or what team could fill the tub first while only using buckets.

New England musters were first organized in the 1940's by the New England Fire Muster Association Incorporated (NEFMAI). The NEFMAI was made of governing firemen muster teams. The elected officers were the president, vice president, and secretary/treasurer. The Muster Association was not active throughout most of the 1980's but surfaced again in January 2000. To this day, it is based in New Hampshire, keeping many cities' and towns' muster traditions going. Hallowell musters were probably sponsored or were helped put on by the New England Muster Association. Unfortunately, Hallowell does not continue its musters, but the memories of them are preserved in the city's history.