Merryweather Steam Fire Engine, June 2006

Description

Comments (0)

Creator

Photographer Unknown, Photographer

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Negatives

Description

A black and white photograph of the Merryweather Steam Fire Engine in the lobby of the Whitby Public Library Central Branch. View is of the wheel.

Notes

The Merryweather Steam Fire Engine, manufactured in England, served the Town of Whitby for 54 years from November 1872 to 1926 when it was replaced by two motorized fire trucks. It was purchased by the Town after an impressive display of launching a stream of water 145 feet in the air over the weather vane on the steeple of All Saints' Anglican Church. The engine saved downtown Oshawa from destruction by fire on the night of December 8, 1872. In 1934 the Town of Whitby gave the fire engine to the York Pioneer and Historical Society in Toronto and it was returned to the Town of Whitby in 2005. In 2010, a proposal was brought to the Town of Whitby Operations Committee that called for the relocation of the engine to enable the library to better use their lobby space. Another proposal was brought forward in March of 2014 by Eva Reti, a library board member, to relocate the engine. The Operations Committee approved the relocation in June of 2014. The engine is located in a display area adjacent to the main lobby of the Centennial Building, in Whitby, Ontario as on May 2022.
(McGary, Harold. "The Whitby Merryweather Steamer." The York Pioneer 100 (2005):3-13.
(Town of Whitby. (2014, June, 30) Operation Committee Minutes. Whitby Archives, Whitby, ON.)
(Town of Whitby. (2014, June, 23). Recommendation Report. Whitby Archives, Whitby, ON)

Date of Original

June 2006

Dimensions

Width: 1.5 in
Height: 1.5 in

Subject(s)

Business districts
Fire engines & equipment
Fires

Corporate Name(s)

Merryweather and Sons of Long Acre

Local identifier

A2013_008_004A

Collection

Whitby Online Historic Photographs Collection

Language of Item

English

Geographic Coverage

Whitby

Ontario, Canada

Latitude: 43.8783199821745 Longitude: -78.9461469346237

Copyright Statement

This item is protected by the Canadian Copyright Act and is intended for one-time use only. Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). It is your responsibility for obtaining these permissions.

Copyright Date