PA Fire Museum Receives Early-19th Century Pumper

Jun. 5—Whenever schoolchildren would tour the Reading Area Firefighters Museum in south Reading, volunteers would have to show them a photo of a representative of the earliest firefighter apparatus.

No longer.

On Friday morning, a wagonlike antique was rolled off a flat-bed truck and into the museum, the former Liberty Fire Company, at Fifth and Laurel streets.

The pumper was built in 1812 by Patrick Lyons, the most famous builder of what were known as Philadelphia-style hand pumpers, officials said.

It was purchased for $800 by the Womelsdorf Fire Company in 1846 and rebuilt in 1851 by John Haak, a Womelsdorf carriage maker.

It's still owned by Womelsdorf, which has loaned it to the museum to add to its impressive collection.

"The RAFM truly appreciates the offer made by Womelsdorf Borough and the Womelsdorf Fire Company to display their most valuable and cherished fire service artifact in the RAFM," said Richard Boyer, who heads the museum's building and grounds, in an email to supporters urging them to witness Friday's delivery. " The Fire Museum will now be able to show the progression of the fire service from the Bucket Brigade to Hand Pumper to Hose Cart to Steamer and finally to Motorized Apparatus."

The new arrival follows last summer's addition of a 1909 steam pumper. That 3 1/2 ton apparatus was delivered in August from the Schuylkill County Fire Museum, where it had been on loan from Berks History Center before being sold to the Reading museum.

While photos are nice, there's nothing like seeing and touching the real thing, Boyer, a retired city fire chief, explained Friday while awaiting the latest arrival.

The hand pumper was in use until about 1890 in Womelsdorf. It's a representative of those used in the city in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, before horse-drawn steam pumpers were invented.

Reading's oldest documented fire company, Rainbow Fire Company, was organized in 1773, three years before the birth of the nation.

"It wasn't until 1821 that the city started to install water mains and fire hydrants," Boyer said. "Back in the days, you had to get water in buckets, so you had line after line of bucket brigades."

People would scoop up water from wells, streams and lakes and dump them into the tank of the hand pumper.

Not many buildings were saved with that slow method, but they worked with what they had, he added.

A separate apparatus, a two-wheel hose cart, carried a coil of hose line. It was towed to fire scenes by a team of strong men pulling on ropes connected to an extendable yoke.

An 1895 two-wheel hose cart will be displayed next to the hand and steam pumpers, along with buckets believed to date to the 18th century.

Boyer said he and museum curator John Trimble are overseeing the renovation and refurbishment of the display area.

The museum received a grant through the Berks County Community Foundation to fund the renovations and enjoys support from City Council and the Berks County commissioners, he said.

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