While it is the massive, towering and glistening apparatus of its era that attract much attention, American LaFrance’s business was in providing machines to suit the needs of its clients, no matter how large their municipality. Accordingly, they also offered models such as the Cosmopolitan, a small steam engine designed to be drawn by hand (or, rather, several sets of very strong arms) through the narrow streets of small communities. Measuring “only” seven feet long, six feet tall, and four feet wide, with a curb weight of less than one ton, it was one of the smallest fire engines of its era, and was fitted with a 250 gpm pump of appropriate scale, sufficient to its needs, designed to be operated by a single fireman. It is believed that 21 of these engines were built between 1902 and 1912, and that only seven remain in existence today.

The Cosmopolitan offered here was originally delivered to Claremore, Oklahoma, in the Ozark foothills near Tulsa, and was later in service in the tiny municipality of Millersburg, Kentucky. It underwent an extensive restoration by the noted fire engine expert Andy Swift of Firefly Restorations in Maine. Museum-exhibited essentially since its completion, the apparatus has not been “under power” since the thorough restoration and the current operating condition of the pump is not known, with servicing recommended before use. Nonetheless the Cosmopolitan remains in excellent restored condition, with correct livery, down to the ornate striping and 23k gold leaf decoration and scroll work, done by the great Ken Soderbeck, the foremost living decorator; authentic nickel trim; and proper accessories, as one would expect from a typically well-detailed Swift restoration.

Small but fierce, as Shakespeare might put it, this charming engine has much to recommend it to the enthusiast desiring an impressive steam fire engine, displaying all the quality engineering and craftsmanship for which American LaFrance was justly renowned—in more manageable scale.