History of Firefighting Timeline Display
Created in part, through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council
THE USE OF HORSES IN HAVERHILL’S EARLY FIRE DEPARTMENT 1872
The first horses used by the Haverhill fire department was in 1872.[1] A pair of bays, driven by Abraham Champion, was used to draw the steam fire engine “General Grant,” and a pair of grays, driven by C. W. Foster, was used to draw the steam fire engine “City of Haverhill.”
The drivers, Mr. A. Champion and Mr. C. W. Foster, were the first permanent men in Haverhill’s fire department. When the alarm sounded, the stable doors would fly open, the trained horses would come running out and stand in place, and the men would lock the collar and jump on the wagon. In taking up the reins, the men would unhook the apparatus which held the harness in place, and it would fly up to the roof. In practically no time, the rig was rushing down the street to a fire.
[1] Fifty years after the introduction of horses into Haverhill’s fire service, the department would be completely motorized. The last pair of horses being retired from the fire service on October 1, 1922.
