Photos: Historic weather vane, once stolen and ransomed back, is removed from Hallowell tower

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.

Posted April 6, 2023

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People watch from a parking lot as Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, works to remove a horse-drawn fire engine weather vane Thursday at the Second Street building that used to be the Hallowell Fire Station. The copper-and-gold-leaf weather vane was moved to the city-owned building at corner of Second Street and Perleys Lane when the fire department took over the former city hall in early 1900s.

Working from one of his company’s trucks, Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, inspects the weathervane at the top of the Second Street building that used to be the Hallowell Fire Station.

Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, cuts under the weathervane with a hacksaw Thursday at the Second Street building that used to house the Hallowell Fire Department. He later used a battery-powered reciprocating saw to get it off.

After cutting the post Thursday, Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, pulls off the weather vane at the Second Street building that used to house the Hallowell Fire Department.

After cutting the post, Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, holds the weather vane Thursday at the Second Street building that used to house the Hallowell Fire Department.

Bob McIntire, left, records as Harry Wolfington hands the weather vane to Travis Frith on Thursday at the Second Street building that used to house the Hallowell Fire Department.

A spectator photographs the firefighter weather vane Thursday at the Second Street building in Hallowell.

The weather vane on top of the former fire station in Hallowell stands out as a silhouette in front of a full moon in February 2004.

Harry Wolfington, owner of Pinnacle Tree Professional Arborists, works to remove a weather vane Thursday from a Hallowell building that used to house the fire station on Second Street. He ended up cutting the post underneath it to get it down.

Purchase photos from the Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel