AURORA | Eat your heart out, Roger Moore.
From life-saving ash trays to early flame retardant suits that put the former James Bond’s “Moonraker” garb to shame, the newest exhibit at the Aurora History Museum highlights the evolution of Aurora, and those who have worked to protect it for over 100 years. But even with the pizazz of artifacts that could make Ian Fleming squirm with delight — like a tricked out Honda dirt bike originally ridden by members of the Aurora Direct Action Response Team — “Behind the Badge: Public Safety in Aurora” centers on the people and anecdotes behind each neatly pressed uniform and crime fighting gizmo on display.
“It’s not really the history of each department, because that can be kind of boring,” said MaryJane Valade, curator of exhibits for the Aurora History Museum. “We tried to focus on stories the public might not know about or may have been forgotten from long ago.”
And with yarns that range from that of a well-placed ash tray in the pocket of Aurora firefighter Jack Dishong which deflected a bullet and saved his life in 1979, to a 1958 scuffle among rowdy fans at a high school basketball game between Englewood and Golden that resulted in serious injuries, there is certainly no dearth of engrossing, nuanced tales.
But uncovering several decades worth of both heroic and historic fables was no easy task, according to Valade. “Behind the Badge” is the result of dozens of hours of research and coordination between History Museum curators, as well as current and retired Aurora police officers and firefighters. All three municipal agencies have worked side by side since about March to bring the exhibit to fruition.
“I think this exhibit was one of the tougher ones to work out because we were juggling so many balls with so many different people working with so many items and trying to track down different things,” Valade said. “And firefighters and police officers are so busy, it’s hard to ask for something by a certain date when their jobs require them to drop things at a moments notice.”
“It’s not really the history of each department, because that can be kind of boring,” said MaryJane Valade, curator of exhibits for the Aurora History Museum. “We tried to focus on stories the public might not know about or may have been forgotten from long ago.”
Valade said that museum staff leaned heavily on unofficial department historians RJ Floyd and John Daniel in gathering assorted materials and equipment for the exhibit, which will be on display through Sept. 13. Floyd has worked closely with both AFD and the local firefighters union for the past five years to preserve a multitude of historical items, as the department currently has nowhere to permanently display any relics. A small room inside AFD Station No. 1 was converted to act as a modest historical exhibition when the station was updated five years ago, though the space has since been converted to a community meeting room as the demand for that function was higher than that for a small museum, according to AFD spokeswoman Capt. Wendy Lippman. She said that the department has recently been in talks to add another space to permanently showcase firefighting memorabilia.
“There have been conversations to possibly reserve some space in the new training facility for some of those items, however space is so expensive, so if it’s needed for training, historical storage space is one of the first things to get scratched off the list,” Lippman said.
The new joint APD and AFD training facility on South Quincy Road is slated for completion later this year. Lippman added that the city has recently purchased several vintage, formerly AFD fire engines and is considering buying an entirely new space to house them and hold meetings, though nothing has been set in stone.
Historical preservation has been an equally low item on the APD totem pole in recent years, according to volunteer historian Daniel, a 27-year veteran of APD. He’s managed a diffident display case at the department’s District No. 1 outpost since he retired from the force in 1999, and said that he’s had to fight to keep the case designated for police memorabilia.
Although he’s a self-professed history buff and proponent of preserving the past, Daniel said he understands the fluidity of police work in the 21st century.
“The only thing constant in law enforcement is change, and if you can’t understand that, then get out,” he said.
And nearly everything has changed since APD juggernaut Spencer Garrett — whose uniform is on display at the new exhibit courtesy of Daniel — left the force in 1970. The department now boasts over 800 commissioned and noncommissioned officers, according to the APD website.
The same goes for AFD, which now employs nearly 350 people and responded to just over 40,000 calls last year, according to Lippman. She said that only 108 of those were confirmed structure fires, and that the vast majority were EMS or rescue calls, which is a shift from when she first started with the department.
“I’ve been with the department 17 years, and it doesn’t seem like things have changed, but when you see it all in one space you see how much things have evolved,” Lippman said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Jack Dishong’s name.