The Silsby Manufacturing Company was an American fire apparatus manufacturer located in Seneca Falls, New York. They mainly manufactured horse-drawn steam pumpers for various fire departments across the United States and Canada, becoming one of the largest such companies of the late 19th century.
History[]
Founded in 1845 by Horace Silsby and Edward Mynderse as the Silsby, Mynderse, & Company, they started off making making farm implements before switching to fire apparatus in 1856. The factory in Seneca Falls was known as the "Island Works", due to being located on a five-acre island in the Seneca River. Silsby was one of the first companies in the United States to make steam pumpers, which were unique; as they were powered by rotary gears, as opposed to pistons. The company produced over a thousand such apparatus over several decades, and in 1891; Silsby joined with the Ahrens Manufacturing Company (the precursor to Ahrens-Fox), the Button Fire Engine Company, and the Clapp & Jones Manufacturing Company (whose co-founder had originally worked for Silsby) to form the American Fire Engine Company. AFEC in turn introduced their own line of steamers, which proved to still be very popular. Eventually in 1900, American merged with the LaFrance Fire Engine Company to form the now-famed American LaFrance.
