Firemen with vintage cars and horse-drawn apparatus on a city street

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Few scenes capture the changeover in firefighting better than one that places motor vehicles beside horse-drawn equipment on the same street. Around the turn of the 20th century, many American fire departments were replacing horses with automobiles and motor-driven engines, though the older teams often stayed in service for years while crews learned the new machines. Niagara Falls, a city that drew heavy visitor traffic and industrial growth in that era, would have faced the same pressures as other growing towns. Look closely at the mix of wagons, harnesses, and motorized trucks to see how a single street held two eras of fire protection at once.

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