Enterprise
#2 Steam Engine - Walden, NY
Horse Drawn Steam Fire Engine circa 1873
Enterprise #2 Steam
Engine from Walden New York is a Button Stem Engine, circa
1872. Two horses were used to pull this engine. It was built
in 1872 in Waterford, NY, by a prominent manufacturer
of fire equipment. This was the fire apparatus of Walden’s
Steamer Company No. 2. The steamer remained in service in
Walden until as lat as 1935.
American LaFrance
Company purchased Button and Co. They re built this steamer
in 1907. In the rear of the steamer is a firebox, which
contained kindling wood. This wood was lit by using a boiler
torch. This small fire produced sufficient heat to turn a
small water supply into steam, which operated the steam
engine. This stem engine operated a pump that drew water in
from the left side of the steamer through the hard suction
hose which drafted water from a pond or stream. On the right
side of the pump are the discharge outlets, which could
discharge water over 200 feet.
A steamer operator had
to watch his pressures using the gauges on the machine,
because without proper supervision and operation a few of
these machines have been known to blow up.
Soon into the 20th
century Walden Fire Dept purchased motorized fire equipment
and retired the Enterprise Steamer. They stored this machine
in the Walden Fire House for years and used it for fire
parades and other events.
It is now on loan by the
Walden Fire Department, Walden New York to our museum.
Hand Drawn Goose Neck
Pumper, Circa 1816.
 This pumper was manufactured
by James Smith in New York City. The machine was purchased,
as legend has it, as used equipment from the Kingston Fire
Department for the sum of $600.00 in 1816 or early 1817.
Montgomery Fire Department was formed in 1810. This was
their first piece of equipment. So, it must be assumed that
in the years 1810 – 1815 there existed a Bucket Brigade
organized to fight fire, here in Montgomery, NY.
In 1860 this old gooseneck
Pumper was replaced by the larger, more powerful Button and
Blake hand pumper that is here in our collection.
Montgomery’s first fire
company was named INDEPENDENT NO 1. This is a name that was
definitely influenced by our War of Independence and the War
of 1812.
In 1893 The Montgomery Fire
Department wa s formed into two companies, Wallkill Engine
No. 2 and Fleet Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.
In 1912 The Village of
Montgomery experienced their worst fire that started in the
barn that was a part of a nearby hotel. The fire quickly
spread to the village fire house and then to the Academy
Building that now houses the Village Offices, library and
museum. All of the buildings were destroyed.
The 1816 Gooseneck pumper was
pulled from the burning
 firehouse and saved. The intense
heat of that fires is still evident today in the form of the
charred side of the machine. The same year, 1912, a new fire
house and municipal building was built, which is now the
Orange County Firefighters Museum. |
