The New York City Fire Museum started out in 1934 at Long Island City. Then, the museum had been known as The Fire College Museum. It relocated several times before finally moving to its present site. The 1904 firehouse, with its Beaux-Arts design, had been renovated in 1981 prior to re-opening its doors to the public as a fire museum.

The Museum is known for having one of the best collections of fire and fire-fighting-related artefacts in the country. Among other things, the place boasts of an exhibit that tells the story of how fire fighting evolved, with its humble beginnings in New Amsterdam when a boy named Peter Stuyvesant had unknowingly begun the first bucket brigade.

A recent addition to the place is a special 9/11 memorial dedicated to all 343 fire fighters who had lost their lives during the tragedy.