Fire Engines Fire Engines
Seagrave spent its first 10 years located in the city that would later become the world center of the automobile industry. Perhaps that is why Detroit Fire Department has long been one of Seagrave's best customers. This 1922 photo shows the last time that fire horses ever pulled a fire engine to an actual fire in Detroit, and of course this hose wagon is a Seagrave! (Photo courtesy of Clarence Woodard)
In 1906, Seagrave's paint shop began keeping a detailed painter's log of every fire engine they painted. Unfortunately, the painter's log does not show a Seagrave hose wagon like this one, so it was presumably built before 1906.
The Seagrave painter's log does show that Detroit also bought a Seagrave horse-drawn aerial ladder truck, serial #2418, in 1907; it was rebuilt as an 85-foot aerial #6380 on February 17, 1912, and ran as Truck 1 in Detroit.
Detroit's 65-foot horse-drawn aerial #4590 has the painter's date of September 17, 1910.
A Seagrave horse-drawn service ladder for Detroit, serial #5486, was painted on May 20, 1911.
This page was last updated on September 7, 1999.