01/28/2022
Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine
Circa 1870
Amoskeag Locomotive Works – Manchester, New Hampshire
German Steam Fire Engine Company – Charleston, South Carolina, currently on display at the North Charleston Fire Museum and Educational Center, Charleston SC.
One of only 34 steam engines remaining from the Amoskeag Company, which produced over 850 steam fire engines between 1859 and 1913, the Amoskeag Locomotive Works, in Manchester, New Hampshire, built steam locomotives and fire engines at the dawn of the railroad era in the United States. Amoskeag fire engines served as the initial fleet for the New York City Fire Department and as the first fire company for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
This straight-frame engine first belonged to the German Steam Fire Engine company (Deutschen Feuer Kompagnie) of Charleston, a volunteer organization founded in 1839, which was comprised of 70 local men of German descent. The company was stationed on Chalmers Street until 1882 when Mayor William Ashmead Courtenay formally incorporated the Charleston Fire Department as government agency with paid staff. The station was renamed Engine House no. 1, and this engine became simply, “Steamer 8.”
Worn down from extensive use by the turn of the 20th century, it was refurbished and partially rebuilt by the American Steam Fire Engine Company. Wear and tear by 1905, however, forced the city to remove it from active service, but still maintain it as a “reserve apparatus.” Finally, in 1932, the Charleston Fire Department officially decommissioned this steamer from all service and donated it to The Charleston Museum the following year.
Working at full capacity, this steamer was capable of pumping upwards of 700 gallons per minute and launching a stream of water well over 200 feet.
On loan courtesy of The Charleston Museum
