American LaFrance Pumper-Hose Truck - Livingston, MT - Fire Fighting Vehicles on Waymarking.com

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American LaFrance Pumper-Hose Truck - Livingston, MT

in Fire Fighting Vehicles

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 533936 N 5056827

In the courtyard behind Livingston's Yellowstone Gateway Museum are displayed a pair of retired fire engines, a Ford 8000 pumper and this LaFrance engine.

According to the sign mounted over the truck (doubtless used for parades), this LaFrance engine saw operation from 1936 to 1984. This is quite a nong lifespan when one compares it with contemporary engines, which departments feel they need to replace every 20 years, at the outside. This example is quite likely a 400 Series Metropolitan pumper. These were commonly equipped with a twelve-cylinder, 240 HP engine, and 750 or 1000 GPM rotary pump.

Back when this engine was manufactured many pumpers were built without water tanks, this being an example. It could be that, after everything else was mounted on the engine, it didn't have enough load carrying capacity to hauk much water. It did haul a lot of hose, though, as can be seen in the photos. Nicely restored, we expect that the engine still participates in parades and other events, which it will likely do for many more years to come.

This truck, like the Ford/Superior, is an ex Livingston Fire Department vehicle.

American LaFrance was, until its final demise in 2014, one of the premiere fire apparatus manufacturers in the country, as well as one of the longest lived.

American LaFrance (ALF) was an American fire apparatus manufacturer. One of the pre-eminent American apparatus builders of the 20th century, the company was resurrected in the late 1990s and finally ceased operations in 2014.
American LaFrance was incorporated in 1904, but can trace its history to a period several years before that. In 1832, John Rogers began building hand-operated fire in Waterford, New York. The company changed hands, and by 1841, was owned by Lysander Button. Production continued under the name of Button & Blake and steam fire engines were built in the latter part of the 19th century. In 1891, Button merged with three other steam fire engine builders (Silsby, Ahrens and Clapp & Jones) to form the American Fire Engine Company.

In 1873, Truckson LaFrance and a number of investors founded the LaFrance Manufacturing Company in Elmira, New York, where it manufactured, among other things, steam fire engines. The company was renamed LaFrance Fire Engine Company in 1880.

In 1900, Chicago industrialist Charles Locke consolidated the American Fire Engine Company, the LaFrance Fire Engine Company and other manufacturers to form the International Fire Engine Company. However, the new entity proved unwieldy and was restructured again in 1904. The new company took the names of its most prominent components, American and LaFrance, to form American-LaFrance.

Over the following decades, ALF moved from steam powered apparatus to motor-driven vehicles, creating many innovations and becoming a dominant player in the industry. Historians have likened ALF to the General Motors of fire trucks. Developments included V-12 engines, cab-forward apparatus, hydraulically-operated aerial ladders and more.
From the Fire Wiki

Built in 1907 of concrete block simulating rusticated stone, the four room Northside School replaced several smaller wood framed schools scattered about Livingston's north side. Serving as an elementary school until 1971, the building was purchased by the Park County Museum Association in 1976, the Park County Museum opening in the building the next year. Today it is known as the Yellowstone Gateway Museum.

Today made easy to find with a dingy red wooden Northern Pacific caboose on the front lawn, the building is filled with artefacts relating to the early days of Livingston. Behind the building is a fenced yard and another building in which are displayed fire trucks, agricultural equipment, wagons, various machines and other large historic items. One will even find another school at this school, the former Urbach School. A small log building constructed between 1898 and 1904, it was moved to the museum in 2000. Accompanying the school is a Blacksmith Shop, donated and moved to the museum in July, 1997.

The museum is open year round, with reduced hours in the winter months.

Yellowstone Gateway Museum
Discover the history of Park County and its connection to Yellowstone!

As a crossroads of culture, Park County, Montana has served as temporary or permanent home for many: native peoples from as long as 11,000 years ago, fur trappers and explorers, homesteaders, and today's residents. Livingston became a major entrance to Yellowstone National Park in 1883 when the Burlington Northern Railway arrived and established a spur line south toward the park.

The museum is housed in a three-story 1906 schoolhouse that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Four large exhibit rooms: Native Cultures, Expeditions, Pioneer, and Transportation, and courtyard also interpret archaeology, modern-day flint knapping, Lewis and Clark, Yellowstone National Park (including historic vehicles), railroad, veterans' history, women, and more. Museum Explorer's Journal guides families through the museum; new children's exhibits.
From Visit Montana