1893 LaFrance, a 4th size, double 550 gpm, steam engine.

Builder: The LaFrance Company, Elmira, New York

Manufacturer’s Number: 270

Condition: Very Good, restored

Location: Museum

Crew: Driver and Stoker

Service History: 1893, Engine Co. No. 23. 1900, Engine Co. No. 36. 1915, Engine Co. No. 45, 1922, retired

Upon arrival from the LaFrance Company in Elmira, New York, this steam engine was assigned to Engine Company 22 located at 1819 Post Street in the Western Addition.  In 1900 it was transferred to Engine Co. No.36, 720 Cliff Avenue near the ocean, not too far from the Cliff House in the outer Richmond district.  There are no department records of what action the company responded to in the 1906 Fire.  In 1915 the engine was reassigned to Engine Co. No. 45, in the outer Sunset District.

By 1922 the Department had completed the conversion from horse drawn apparatus to motorized units.  This engine was sold at public auction to the Simpson family of Hood, California, who planned to use it to pump water from the Sacramento River into their vast pear orchards.  Before the engine was placed into farm operation, the family realized the value of the engine as an antique.  They stored the engine in their barn until the early 1970’s when Michael Simpson entered into a loan and restoration agreement with the museum at the San Francisco US Mint at 5th and Mission Streets.  During the next four years the engine was restored to its original pristine condition, with the exception of rebuilding the boiler.  The gold leafing and surrounding paint embellishments were completed by a retired gold leaf expert from the City and County Central Fire Shops, who had worked on steam engines as an apprentice.

The Simpson family offered the engine for sale in 1987, and the Department purchased it for $85,000, quite a bit more than the original purchase price from LaFrance.

Engine 22 was paraded and displayed at the 1906 Expo with ten other California and Nevada steam engines.  The 1906 Expo had the largest gathering of steam engines on the west coast in modern times.

It is the plan of the SFFD Historical Society to rebuild the steam boiler and return the engine to working order.

Back to the Top