General Fire Truck Corporation

The General Fire Truck Corporation was an American fire apparatus manufacturer located in St. Louis, Missouri and Detroit, Michigan. The company was formed as the General Manufacturing Company in 1905. They initially made leather belting, and branched into portable fire extinguishers in 1918. In 1926, the company moved to a new facility and changed their name to General Fire Truck Corporation to reflect their work constructing fire apparatus.

In 1936, General packed up and moved to Detroit. The following year, they established a West Coast branch in Los Angeles, the General-Pacific Corporation. From Detroit, the company developed a line of custom pumpers. In 1942, the name was changed again to the General-Detroit Corporation. The last truck was built in 1957, and General-Detroit concentrated on fire extinguishers. Some General-Detroit employees formed a new company, Fire Trucks Incorporated (FTI) in Mount Clemens, Michigan.