History

When Prosser Bend modernized its fire station in 1965, the new synthetic hoses no longer required tower drying, and the 1938 hose tower became, in the minutes of the March meeting, 'a question.' Demolition was quoted at $4,400; doing nothing was free but was felt to reflect poorly. Chief Harold Macklin proposed a third option, and with a $12,000 grant from the Nebraska Heritage Foundation the department retrofitted the tower's interior with display racks, a stair, and a donated light fixture, opening it that August as a museum of the equipment it had spent twenty-seven years drying.

The niche proved narrower than the tower. Attendance after the opening season settled into what the department's log describes as 'steady, in the single digits,' and curation fell to whichever volunteer had weekend duty. The museum persisted on small margins: a $7,500 donation from the Chamber of Commerce in 1978 funded school programs and a hands-on coupling display, and members of the auxiliary re-rolled the collection annually, a task the bylaws assign by seniority, lowest first.

In 1986 the Rotary Club mounted a revitalization campaign that raised $5,000 and produced the nozzle wall, an exhibit of 61 nozzles arranged by bore diameter, sourced by mail from departments in fourteen states. Interest rose measurably, then settled. By 1995 the tower itself needed attention — the 1938 ladder rungs had been condemned by the department's own inspection — and a community drive raised $18,000 for structural repairs, during which the collection spent a winter in the fire hall's meeting room, hung from the coat rail.

Since 1998 the museum has run school tours and maintains the Historic Hose Hall on the tower's ground floor, whose centerpiece is a riveted leather hose dated to the 1890s, acquired from an estate sale in Iowa for $75 and a commitment to display the seller's grandfather's helmet beside it, which is honored. The helmet is not labeled, at the family's request.

Local Legends

Residents maintain that on humid days the tower still smells of hose rubber laid down in 1962, and some claim to be able to date the humidity by it. The department attributes this to the rubber mats on the stairs, and has left the matter there.

A brass nozzle displayed on the second landing is locally called the Golden Nozzle, after a 1968 service award ceremony in which it was presented under stage lighting. Metallurgical testing arranged by a skeptical member in 1991 confirmed ordinary brass. The label now reads 'The Award Nozzle,' and the testing invoice is displayed beside it.

It is said the tower leans one inch toward the fire hall, out of loyalty. The 1995 structural report measured the lean at just under half an inch and attributed it to the 1938 foundation, and the department has posted the relevant page in a frame at the base of the stairs.

The Controversy

In the early 1990s the county assessor questioned whether the structure was a historical museum or an obsolete training facility, a distinction that determined its tax status. The department argued the tower had never trained anyone; the assessor's office noted it had also, for long stretches, exhibited to no one. The matter ran through two hearings and an advisory opinion before the tower was classified as a museum, tax-exempt, with the written stipulation that the classification 'does not constitute a finding as to attendance.'

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