A historic weather vane has been removed from the former fire house in Hallowell, this time, with the city’s permission.
The instrument, which depicts a horse pulling a fire-hose cart with a single fireman, has a rich history.
In November of 1983, it was stolen from the tower of the Second Street building and ransomed back about a week later, when the publisher of a Maine antiques newspaper met up with two strangers in the woods near Manchester, New Hampshire, and paid them $1,000 of city funds in exchange for the valuable item.
The next year it was returned to the building with help from an Augusta Fire Department ladder truck.
The city will store the object in its vault while it seeks to get it appraised for its value and to determine the cost of duplicating the item so it can display the original at City Hall and use the duplicate on the building.
All photos by Joe Phelan.