Barre Firehouse Weathervane

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The Barre Firehouse Weathervane is a hammered copper vane from 1904 that once topped the Barre firehouse in Barre, Vermont. It shows a flying team of horses pulling a hook and ladder wagon. Now it’s on display at the Vermont History Center in downtown Barre.

The vane was custom-made for the fire station built in 1904 on South Main Street and stayed there for almost a century. It symbolized Barre’s growing prosperity as the granite capital. The city built a new, larger firehouse modeled after a Quincy, Massachusetts building. Construction began in the summer of 1904 and was nearly finished by December. The station had eight horse stalls, a club room, a reading room, and sleeping quarters, for a total cost of about $25,000.

Barre hired W. A. Snow & Company of Boston to create the weathervane for $75. It sat atop the station’s tall drying tower above the hoses. The vane is nearly 6 feet long, 3 feet high, with an 8-foot iron pole and four copper directionals spanning about 3 feet.

In 1984, officials moved the vane to the Aldrich Public Library for display. After eight decades of weather, it needed restoration and was repaired by a professional conservator in 1993. Security concerns later led to its removal from the library.

Today, the weathervane is valued as decorative folk art and a example of early American craftsmanship. Vermont’s Shelburne Museum helped lead early preservation of vanes from across the country. Climate-controlled preservation facilities help protect these artifacts, which can be viewed by the public. The Vermont Historical Society is partnering with the City to display this historic Barre piece, and both hope future generations of Vermonters will enjoy it.