March 8, 1994

Endangered Princeton Antiques

Two valuable pieces of Princeton history are close to being lost. Princeton Hook & Ladder Company. the firehouse on North Harrison Street, has no place to house its 1955 Seagrave and 1929 Buffalo fire engines.

Both engines were originally purchased for the Princeton Fire Department and housed at Hook & Ladder during their years of active service. Now retired, they are in need of a suitable home and some amount of repair work, neither of which Hook & Ladder can now provide. The engines are temporarily housed at Mercer Engine Co. #3, the firehouse on Witherspoon Street. This temporary space is about to be lost.

Hook & Ladder president George Creighton outlined the options now being considered. The most optimistic would be the donation of local space to store the engines, and money for restoration needs. Next would be an area home to keep the engines safe: after that, perhaps a museum or private collector would preserve these engines. The final option would be selling both engines to an unknown fate.

Hook & Ladder historian Rick Glas stated that the 1929 Buffalo was actually purchased at cost from the Buffalo Fire Appliance Corporation. The son of the president of this firm was a student at Princeton University, who told his father of the town’s need for a new fire engine. So the father offered Princeton the engine at cost, $6,961.50. The engine was delivered on December 31, 1929.

After many years of service, the Buffalo was sold to a neighboring fire company and eventually ended up at the Gulick Farm in Princeton Township. The Gulicks donated the engine back to Hook & Ladder in 7969. The company spent hundreds of hours refurbishing the engine, mechanically and cosmetically. Another mechanical uplift was done in about 1978. The engine is now in need of expert antique restoration at a cost of approximately $15,000.

Mr. Glas also said that the 1955 Seagrave engine, which was delivered on June 14, 1955, cost $18,761. For reasons not quite clear, then-Mayor Erdman had to personally guarantee that the engine would be paid for. This engine still runs well and needs only minor cosmetic work.

The roles of these two antique engines in recent years has been to represent Hook & Ladder and the town at parades and other functions.

Mark Freda and Henry Tamasi, members of Hook & Ladder, are actively looking for a home for these antique engines. They are working on a deadline; the engines must leave the Witherspoon Street firehouse by July 1. Anyone who can help, or who has suggestions on these antique engines, should call Mr. Freda at 497-5524 or Mr. Tamasi at 279-6006.

The era of the open cab, ride-the-tailboard fire engine is over. These two engines represent the traditional image of fire engines, but they are about to be lost. A piece of Prince-ton history is about to vanish.