The engine, purchased by the town in 1839 from the W. C. Hunneman Co., represented an important advance over the bucket-brigade methods that had prevailed to date. It was a suction-type engine capable of drawing water from streams and other water sources and then propelling it through a hose. The purchase also presented the opportunity to break the existing sharing of fire-fighting resources with Roxbury with the creation of the Brookline Engine Co. #1.

Lantern Slide Collection #50