Fire All About – Museum of Waterways and Industry, Fall Street, Seneca Falls, New York

A devastating fire occurred in the summer of 1890, leaving half of Main Street in ashes. This was a cruel irony given that Seneca Falls was the place where the world’s first steam operated fire engine was built. It was the product of the Silsby Manufacturing Company, and used Birdsall Holly’s patented rotary pump and engine. It consisted of two elliptical cams working into each other within an air-tight case. They contained four chambers, upon which the stream would act alternately, so as to secure great power with low pressure and a constant supply of water. While one chamber had just discharged, another was discharging, a third was ready, and a fourth would be filling.

The invention was wildly successful and was sold worldwide. By 1885 their five-acre plant on the island flats behind Trinity Episcopal Church was the largest of its kind in the world. Over two hundred employees produced half the steam engines in America, with a new engine being completed every week.