This mid-nineteenth century bucket is marked “H 1 L,” suggesting that it may have belonged to Hook and Ladder Company #1 in its town of origin. Hook and ladder companies, which were comprised of about twenty men, carried a variety of tools to the scene of a fire: ladders, hooks for pulling down chimney-tops and burning roofs, and axes for chopping holes to ventilate smoke from buildings. Sometimes ladders and hooks were carried on a hand-drawn cart, as they were extremely heavy. In the first half of the nineteenth century, hook and ladder companies did not receive a great deal of attention relative to engine and hose companies, but they became increasingly important as buildings grew taller and urban fire departments needed to use ladders with greater frequency. The first prototype aerial truck, which used mechanical means to raise, lower, and extend ladders, was completed in 1870; by 1900 the typical aerial truck carried a variety of equipment, including buckets, ropes, and extra hose.