Fred and his Fire Truck

(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Two views of Fred Rose, Sr., and the Hobart Fire Department's fire truck. Notes on the back of one of them read:

Fire Station at Fourth Street and Lake George. Fred Rose, Senior became town fire marshal and town marshal in 1901, becoming fire chief and chief of police when Hobart became a city in 1921. In 1936 the jobs were split and Rose retained the fire chief post until 1941.

In the top picture, in the background at left you can see what I believe is the Nickel Plate bridge over Lake George, which gives you some idea of where this fire station was.

Neither picture is dated, but this is probably Hobart's first fire truck. From the Hobart Fire Department's 50th anniversary program:

Proud indeed was the city of Hobart when the American LaFrance 500 gallon pumper engine was purchased in 1920. This truck is used today [1943] as an auxiliary to the American LaFrance 750 gallon pumper and booster tank streamlined truck which the city bought in 1940.

If this is that first truck, the photos must date between 1920 and (probably) 1940; judging by Fred's clothes and apparent age, I would put the first one closer to 1920 (Fred was then 53 years old), the second perhaps 10 or 15 years later.

I don't doubt he was proud of that fire truck; in his place, I would have been, too.