The Little Engine (Maker) That Could …. And Did

The Little Engine (Maker) That Could ….. And Did

A Historical Vignette by
Tom Parquette

Part One of Three Parts

History is a given which is constantly with us and increases minute by minute and second by second. Some is good. Some is less so. The fire service is no different. We are blessed with history which is at once both fascinating and educational. History can and does offer constant insights into how we got where we are. This Vignette touches not so much on the history or development timeline of our modern day fire apparatus as it does the circumstances through which some of those responsible, struggled.

While the history of conglomerates, the robber barons and other monopolistic business efforts of the late 1800's and the early 1900's is generally well known it is often related in terms of 'busting the trusts' or 'fair play'. During this period, the evolution of fire apparatus suffered a period in which 'fair play' or a 'level playing field' was anything but the norm.

Let's look at the W.S. Nott Company of Minnesota fame. In 1879, then 26-year-old William S. Nott joined the E.B. Preston Company of Minneapolis to capitalize on the burgeoning demand for leather belting and supplies to drive the growth of the lumber and flour milling industries based in that area. Preston had been supplying fire equipment and fire hose as well but only as a sideline to it's main business of leather belting.

Industrial leather belting used to
drive machinery and tractors.

By 1887, W.S. Nott had prospered sufficiently to break away from his affiliation with Preston and form his own company, W.S. Nott Company. He specialized in the same fields, leather belting and supplies but Nott had bigger aspirations and they involved fire apparatus. Preston had achieved national prominence in 1885 with the development of an 85 foot wooden aerial ladder which Preston followed with a 93 foot metal ladder of superior design two years later. That was enough for W.S. Nott to see his vision of the future and his spot in it. Nott continued to sell his leather belting and hardware supplies as well as act as a sales rep for Preston following his deparature to his own company. By the 1890's Nott had become a sales agent for a number of other fire apparatus manufacturers and built up a huge trade in the midwest.

W. S. Nott Co. factory – 1900
Minneapolis, Minnesota

The fire apparatus industry saw a gelling of it's future during the 1890's. From the 1860's forward the industry was very fragmented with many local wagon shops and blacksmiths supplying their respective areas with less complex equipment such as hose wagons or ladder trucks for small communities. But the larger and more complex items such as advanced steamers, water towers, chemical trucks or aerial ladders required more in terms of technical expertise and certainly capital to supply the labor and equipment. By 1890, fifteen or so firms had emerged as major suppliers of apparatus. These included Silsby, LaFrance, Clapp & Jones, Button, Ahrens, Amoskeag and Waterous building steam fire engines while LaFrance, Preston, and Gleason & Baily supplied aerials, Babcock, Holloway, Macomber, Champion and Gleason & Bailey supplied chemical units and the Hale Company furnished water towers from Kansas City.

Minneapolis Water Tower 1
Hale-patent water tower mounted on horse-drawn wagon.
(Brown Collection photo)

In 1891, Silsby, Clapp & Jones, Button and Ahrens joined forces in a sort of trust to market together and named it the American Fire Engine Company. This was followed by Babcock absorbing Preston, Champion and Hale. These unions were purportedly created to reduce litigation, cut losses and raise added capital while each could offer a broader product line. But this new approach to fire apparatus marketing proved to be only a precurser of things to come.

Tomorrow:  Part Two.  Down and dirty monopolization pollutes the fire engine industry.

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Also on FireGeezer…

• The Little Engine (Maker) That Could …. And Did – Part 2 – March 7, 2012