Friends of Yosemite seek help to preserve ‘Hessie’ fire coat

By Lorien Strange
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Coming into Chester on Depot Street, I’ve often wondered about the Yosemite Fire House. It’s an unusual building, with its two tall towers topped by Mansard roofs, and clearly old. But other than a sign on the door to the first floor, there’s not much around the building itself to explain its history to an untrained eye.

It’s not just the building whose history needs preserving, Shawn Cunningham* told me. Cunningham and his fellow board members of the Friends of the Yosemite Firehouse Museum are leading an effort to establish a museum for the fire house and its artifacts, which are owned by the town. A few years ago, the Chester Select Board gave the Friends the go ahead to work on establishing the museum.

That’s a big project with plenty of moving parts, and to start, they’re tackling a rather urgent task.

The meeting room on the second floor houses 11 rubberized canvas turnout coats, worn by the volunteer firefighters of Chester’s Fire District 2 through to the ’60s or ’70s, before they were replaced by coats with better heat protection.

But according to Cunningham, one coat in particular carries special significance. Emblazoned on the back of the pitch black coat in white stenciling is “Hessie”—the nickname of former select board member, lister, school board member, special constable, restaurant owner, ski shop owner and World War II Navy veteran — among other accomplishments — Clair Hesselton.

“A lot of people remember Hessie,” Cunningham said. None of the other coats bear a name that can be attributed to specific individuals, making Hessie’s coat a bridge between the town’s collective memory and the history of the other 10 turnout coats. And its urgent need for preservation made it the best candidate for a first project.

Hessie’s coat is currently awaiting repair down at Museum Textile Services in Andover, Mass. MTS is well known and has a long list of clients including Brown University, The Mark Twain House, U.S. Naval Academy, The Henry Ford Museum, the National Park Service and the New England Quilt Museum.

The work will include hand cleaning and humidifying the coat’s materials, patching tears in several places and repairing the collar. Oxidized metal hardware will be treated and deep creases will be smoothed as much as possible. The coat will also be fitted for a custom mannequin that will support the coat while minimizing the stress on its fabric and seams and allowing for viewing from the front and back.

According to an assessment by MTS conducted last December, cleaning up Hessie’s coat, making repairs and getting it ready for exhibition will take around $5,500, which includes the mannequin and a large archival storage box for when the coat is not being displayed.

To accomplish this the Friends have started a GoFundMe campaign which can be accessed by clicking here. Anyone preferring to donate by check can make it payable to Friends of Yosemite Firehouse Museum and mail it to PO Box 1221, Chester, VT  05143. The Friends group is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization so donations are tax deductible.

In addition to the fundraiser, Cunningham says the Friends of the Yosemite Firehouse Museum are planning walking tours of historic Chester fires for later this summer and a membership drive. For more information email yosemitefirehousemuseum@gmail.com.

*Shawn Cunningham is a reporter for The Chester Telegraph.