Fire Engine Plate, "Northern Liberty"
Fire Engine Plate, "Northern Liberty"
Usage conditions apply
- Description (Brief)
- At the core of any fire company is the apparatus used to fight fires and protect lives. This was particularly true of for the volunteer fire fighters in 19th century America. Often purchased with their own funds, their fire engines were the focus of their pride and affection, as well as their identities as fire fighters. Engine plates, often made of brass, would be prominently affixed to engines and inscribed with the company name, number, and founding date. Engine plates could pass from old engine to new, or be kept in the firehouse as a memorial to a departed apparatus.
- This rectangular plate with ornamented corners belonged to the Northern Liberty Fire Company No.1 or the Northern Liberty Hose Company No. 4 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The silver-plate background bears black-enamel brass letters that read “NORTHERN LIBERTY.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- plate, fire engine
- maker
- unknown
- place made
- United States
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- silver plate (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 4 7/8 in x 17 3/4 in; 12.3825 cm x 45.085 cm
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0959
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.033.0959
- Credit Line
- Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
- subject
- Fire Fighting
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
- Cultures & Communities
- Work
- Firefighting Collection
- Fire Engine Plates
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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