Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: fire departments

"Union Steam Fire Engine & Hose Co., No. 1, Lebanon, Pa. 123-125 S. 9th St. (near Walnut)." Printed on the back of this postcard: "24224 - Pub. by Harpel's Art Store, Lebanon, Pa. Officers. President - Geo. T. Spang. Vice-Pres. - Wm. S. Rise. Secretary - Wm. A. Spangler. Treasurer - Chas. H. Killinger. Chief Eng. - Levi Hartz. Equipment - 2nd. size Amoskeag Engine, Hose Wagon. Organized Feb. 22, 1780. Chartered as Steam Fire Engine Co., March 19, 1866." According to an article that appeared in the Lebanon Daily News on April 22, 1970, p. 19, this was one of a series of fire company postcards published by Harpel's Art Store for the thirty-third annual convention of the Pennsylvania State Firemen's Association, which was held in Lebanon on September 10 to 14, 1912. For another Lebanon fire company postcard, see Liberty Steam Fire Engine and Hose Company, No. 3, Lebanon, Pa., 1912 .

This is a screen capture from Google Maps showing the Bartholdi Hose Company in 2013. For more information, see the postcard view of the Bartholdi Hose Company, Butler, New Jersey, ca. 1920 (below).

Postcard published by Rudolph Bros., New York City, and postmarked Aug. 26, 1922. According to the Butler Volunteer Fire Department 's Web page, the Bartholdi Hose Company No. 2 was established in Butler, New Jersey, in 1908, and the postcard view of its fire engine and firehouse (above) dates to 1922 or earlier. When I checked Google Maps, I was amazed to find that the Bartholdi Hose Company , as recorded by Google in 2013 (see screen capture below), looks much the same as it did 90 years earlier!

That's John C. Kindler, who was the fire department chief in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the driver's seat of his 1913 Studebaker-Flanders automobile. His passenger is Edward Halbert, assistant chief. Note the fire gong and the two fire extinguishers mounted on the side of the vehicle. The setting shows Front Street in Harrisburg , with the benches and trees of Riverfront Park across the street and the faint blue of the Susquehanna River barely visible in the background.

"9704. Fire Headquarters, Creston, Ia. 1902. C.F.D."

"Hook & Ladder No. 1, responding to an alarm, Providence, R.I."

"Reading Fire Dept., on Penn Square, Labor Day, Reading, Pa." Printed on the back of this postcard: "Pub. by W. Chas. Lewars, Reading, Pa." The Reading Fire Department, Reading, Pennsylvania, marches in a Labor Day parade with horse-drawn fire equipment in this undated postcard view.

A postcard showing New York City firemen with their new motorized aerial ladder truck, probably sometime in the1910s. "Battalion 2" is inscribed in the stone above the arch of the building in the background, which turns out to be a firehouse located at 92 Lafayette Street in New York City. Amazingly enough, the building is still standing one hundred years after the firemen posed with their new equipment, and you can take a look at it using Google Maps view . No longer a firehouse, the building is now home to the Downtown Community Television Center , "a community media center located in Manhattan's Chinatown on Lafayette Street."

"Fifteenth Annual Ball of the Reliance Fire Co., January 1st, 1879, Lady's Invitation."

"Grand Fireman's Dress Ball, American Fire Company, No. 5, at Fulton Hall, on Friday evening, March 8th, 1872. John Snyder, president, Rob't McDonnell, sec., Sam'l H. Price, treas. Tickets one dollar, to be prepaid."