Combined data from "100 YEARS OF AMERICAN LAFRANCE: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY" and the city website of Waterford, New York.
Depending on which version you choose, the story begins in 1832 when John F. Rogers began making small hand-operated fire engines of his own design in a small workshop on the banks of the King's Canal in Waterford, New York.
Waterford was also home to a fire engine production industry. For a short time in the early 1830s, John F. Rogers made the Rogers Patent hand pump engines along Kings Canal until the business was taken over by William Platt and Nicholas B. Doe. Doe and Platt soon became partners with Lysander Button and Robert Blake, who later acquired the entire business.
Button & Blake manufactured highly-regarded manually-operated fire engines based on the Rogers patent in a larger factory on the Erie Barge Canal. Over the years American LaFrance has variously used three dates - 1832, 1834 and 1845 - in its corporate logo and advertising.
In 1850, the plant was moved from Kings Canal to a new steam-powered plant in the Village alongside the Champlain Canal. The new factory produced both hand pump and steam powered engines. In 1860, Button sold the company to his son and the company became known as L. Button & Son. Their high quality machines were sold throughout the United States and in Canada, Europe and South America.
By 1859, Seneca Falls, New York was the self-proclaimed fire engine-manufacturing capital of the United States. Three well-established companies -- the Silsby Mfg. Co., Gleason & Bailey and Rumsey & Company - were all building hand-drawn, hand-operated fire equipment in Seneca Falls in upper New York State.
In the late 1800s, the Button Company joined with other small companies and eventually became known as the American-LaFrance Fire Engine Company, which is still in operation in Elmira, New York.
WikiTree profile Rodgers-679 created through the import of ReevesFamilyMaster_2012_2012-09-25.ged on Sep 25, 2012 by Keith Reeves. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Keith and others.
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