Hometown

New Ulm Fire Department preserves historic fleet on North 21st Street

The New Ulm Fire Department keeps its old fire trucks in an equipment building on North 21st Street.

The collection spans from 1870 to the 1950s and shows how much firefighting has changed in southern Minnesota over the years.

The oldest piece is an 1870 hand pumper.

"This hand pumper was the first piece of apparatus they bought. This was bought in 1870," Fire Chief Paul Macho said. "There was no horse or motor to pull it."

Firefighters had to pull it to fires by hand and work the long handles on the sides together to build up enough pressure to fight the flames. Even now, it's still in good condition.

The U.S.-Dakota War had ended just a few years earlier. By 1870, New Ulm was still rebuilding and had about 1,310 residents.

As the town got bigger, the department needed a way to pull heavier equipment farther and faster.

That includes an 1888 steamer with a brass boiler and silver dome and gauges that still work, and the cart that went with it to carry the hoses.

"This was horse-drawn. This is where they carried all the hoses," Macho said, pointing to the heavy hose cart.

"The department got its first motorized truck in 1919, an American LaFrance known as No. 1," Macho said.

The new motorized fire truck was open-air with a black leather bench seat, steering gear out in the open, and a back bed built to hold hose lines.

"There's also a 1931 American LaFrance that was the main engine for years, and a utility engine from about 1955 that ran as Engine No. 3," Macho said.

American LaFrance was one of the biggest fire truck builders in the country. It started in the 1830s in Elmira, New York, and set the industry standard for fire trucks and equipment for more than a hundred years.

Driving and riding these old rigs took a lot of strength. Before trucks had enclosed cabs, firefighters rode on the back tailboard and got their gear on while they were headed to the call.

"When I first got on the fire department, we still hung on the back," Macho said. "You hang onto that bar, and you got dressed."

The vehicles also reflect traditional craftsmanship from a bygone era, featuring hand-applied gold leaf striping across the 1919 and 1931 units.

"When they built these, this is actual gold leafing," Macho said. "I watched them put it on out in South Dakota, it comes on a roll of like wax paper, and it's super thin. Then they just push it on where they want it."

Even the way they warned people was different back then.

"These bells, you have to pull," Macho said, pointing to the bell on the old truck and the cord used to ring it. "The new ones are electric, but this one you still have to pull."

Today the old fire trucks don't just sit idle in storage.

"The department takes them to local parades, high school homecoming, Autofest, and Fire Prevention Week events around the area," Macho said.

The 1955 Engine No. 3 has a more serious job, too. When a retired firefighter dies, the family can choose to have the casket carried in the back of that truck for the last ride to the cemetery.

"This is the one we use for a caisson when retired members die. They get a ride, their last ride in this," Macho said. "When they get to the cemetery, they ring the bell. If they want to. It's up to the family."