• Antique 1916 NOFD Horse-Drawn Fire Engine Co 27 Log Book Ledger New Orleans
ITEM SPECIFICS
• Type: Ledger / Log Book (handwritten manuscript)
• Subject: Firefighting, New Orleans history
• Region: New Orleans, Louisiana
• Date: October 1, 1916 – May 4, 1917
• Original/Reproduction: Original
• Language: English
• Pages: 152 numbered pages written, plus roster page
• Condition: the ledger shows where it has some binding issues, but it is complete. A few of the pages are loose.
• Size: 14x9
DESCRIPTION
ORIGINAL 1916–1917 HANDWRITTEN COMPANY LEDGER — ENGINE COMPANY No. 27, NEW ORLEANS FIRE DEPARTMENT
Fully transcribed — includes a complete 142-page printed transcription
This is the original daily log book kept at the firehouse of Engine Company No. 27 of the New Orleans Fire Department, in the last years of the horse-drawn steam fire engine. It runs from October 1, 1916 to May 4, 1917, and fills 152 numbered pages in ink. Each day records:
• the condition of the steam engine and hose carriage
• which horses were in service and which were sick
• every fire alarm box that came in
• who stood watch, hour by hour
• supplies, feed and coal received
• orders from headquarters
• formal reports to the Chief
The company number is confirmed by the Captain's own signature on his reports: "Capt Engine Co #27."
The incredible amount of detail in this ledger is just stunning every single penny, that was spent, and who it was spent on and who they got that money from is written in detail, many streets and addresses are noted throughout the book. One page clearly shows which engine companies and fire houses still had horses that needed horseshoes given an incredible glimpse into the structure in history other than New Orleans fire department in 1916 the companies were run very military like including daily inspections reading of disciplinary proceedings. Many many details.
THE MEN OF ENGINE 27
The roster page lists the full crew with rank, home address, badge number, fire-key number and age:
• Capt. Joseph Stehling
• Lieut. L. L. Trenchard
• Engineer E. J. Catanzaro
• Stoker H. Quaid
• Driver A. Cummings
• Pipemen J. Lotz, J. (J. T.) Norton and J. Vath
Three different hands wrote in the book: the Captain, the Lieutenant, and on a few days the Driver. Department figures named throughout include:
• Chief Engineer Louis Pujol
• Assistant Engineer W. J. Lee, who initialed the book on inspection days
• the department veterinarian and physician
• the master machinist
• Mayor Martin Behrman
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LEDGER
• The steamer breaks down (Nov 16, 1916). Working a fire at Box 91, the engine's flywheel broke. The Captain's report to Chief Pujol is copied in full. The company ran with the hose carriage alone for 48 days until the engine returned to service on Jan 3, 1917.
• Big fires.
• An Election Day general alarm (Nov 7, 1916).
• An all-day general alarm at Box 16 (Dec 10, 1916).
• The largest fire in the book (Feb 2, 1917): an 8-hour general alarm, apparently at a lumberyard. The Lieutenant's eyes were injured by smoke and a pipeman fell from a lumber pile.
• A Fritz Jahncke Co. warehouse fire (Mar 4, 1917).
• An Illinois Central Railroad warehouse fire caused by spontaneous combustion of oily waste (Apr 23, 1917).
• The horses. The horses are tracked by number every day: colic, lameness, a balking horse that wouldn't pull the engine past the firehouse door, and a horse that fell on Freret St when its breast strap broke. Another shied and drove a wagon shaft through the window of Clio streetcar #51. Each incident is reported to the Chief.
• City and department life.
• Mayor Behrman orders every fireman to pay his poll tax.
• A collection is taken for a wedding present for the Mayor's daughter, and her thank-you letter is read to the company.
• A fireman is detailed to Woolworth's on Canal St for the Christmas season.
• Measles in firemen's families.
• The Chief's trial courts.
• The Firemen's Pension Fund election.
• Hose Co. #10 replaces Chemical Co. #7.
• The Captain helps build, then take down, a drill tower at the Fair Grounds.
• The Chief orders a lawn planted at the firehouse.
• Firemen's funerals for members of Engine Cos. 6 and 19 and for retired pensioners, plus deaths in the families of the crew.
• A department-wide horseshoeing order (Jan 1917) listing 21 companies of the 4th, 6th and 7th Fire Districts.
• Period businesses named as suppliers:
• L. Godchaux (uniforms)
• Maestri Furniture
• J. Steckler Seed Co.
• A. Baldwin & Co.
• Liberty Oil Co.
• Central Ice Co.
• Dufour & Bro. (feed)
• Robt. P. Hyams Coal Co.
• America enters World War I on April 6, 1917, during the ledger's final month, though the firehouse routine never mentions it.
INCLUDES A COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTION
Every page of the ledger has been carefully transcribed, and a 142-page printed copy comes with the book. It is set in a large, easy-to-read typeface and includes:
• the full day-by-day text, page by page, keeping the original spellings and margin notes
• a key to the old abbreviations and fire-department terms
• the company roster and a list of department officials, horses and suppliers
• a timeline of the major fires and events
• research leads: newspaper dates, death notices and names worth looking up
• notes on what stands out in each section
There's no need to puzzle over 110-year-old handwriting. You can read the whole story cover to cover
The ledger is complete as shown it does have some binding issues. There are a few loose pages in the center of the ledger has no water damage has been kept very dry and very readable.
A rare first-hand record of a New Orleans firehouse from the horse-and-steam era. It would suit a collector of firefighting history, New Orleans and Louisiana history, or early-20th-century Americana, or a genealogist researching these families. Please see all photos. Ships carefully packed.
Note the photo that is shown with the fire pumper and fireman is not part of this sale. It was taken from the Internet just to give you an idea of the equipment and the uniforms of the New Orleans fire department as they were describing it in 1916 in the ledger
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