Southwest Harbor Fire Trucks

Identifier:
7208  
Title:
Southwest Harbor Fire Trucks
Description:
The fire trucks are, from left to right:
1950 Ford
1943-1947 Ford
1941 Buffalo custom pumper

Foreground:
Hand pumper #609

The hand pumber #609 was built by William Cooper Hunneman (1769-1856) in 1857. William Hunneman, an apprentice to Paul Revere, is best known for the andirons and occasional teakettle marked with his surname. The #609 was sold first to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and named the "Governor Langdon". Purchased in 1879 by Bedford Massachusetts, #609 was renamed "Shawsheen", and became the second engine the town of Bedford owned. Later #609 made it's way to Tremont Maine, and in 1905, the pumper became a part of the new town of Southwest Harbor when it separated from Tremont.

Drawn and pumped by hand, this pumper was last known to be used at the Causeway Club in Southwest Harbor, celebrating V-E Day in 1945. Over the remaining years the pumper was stored in many Mount Desert Island locations. Moved from place to place, including the museum in Northeast Harbor, the Seal Cove Auto Museum in Seal Cove, the pumper now resides in Southwest Harbor.

In the winter of 2008-09, the Junior Firefighters checked on the pumper to find it's wheels frozen in three inches of ice at the current storage facility. This prompted the kids to start a fundraising campaign to house #609 in a permanent, solar powered, climate controlled building, on the grounds of the Southwest Harbor Fire Station. Two sides of the structure are to be UV protective glass for viewing and enjoyment by future generations.
Address:
26 Villiage Green Way
Place:
Southwest Harbor
State:
ME
Country:
USA
Date:
1950 c.
Rights:

Citation

Ballard - Willis Humphreys Ballard (1906-1980), “Southwest Harbor Fire Trucks,” Southwest Harbor Public Library, accessed November 22, 2024, https://demo.digitalarchive.us/items/show/4312.Item 7208

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