June 24, 2026 Submitted By Geri Duff
In the fall of 1934, the Hingham Committee on the Purchase of New Fire Apparatus recommended that Hingham buy an Ahrens-Fox pumper, Model N.T. It was delivered June 14, 1935, tested by the New England Board of Fire Underwriters and placed in service at Central Fire on Short Street (now J F Orr & Sons).
The Ahrens-Fox went to her first fire in October of 1935, which was Guy E. Tripp’s barn on Main Street, South Hingham.
This picture of Engine 2 is in front of Central Fire with William Hatch and Ralph Laurie. Back in the day, both men were assigned in June of 1913 to Engine 2 (a Knox) and maintained the fire alarm system. Both men retired in 1946, Hatch as Deputy Chief and Laurie as Superintendent of Fire Alarm.
The Ahrens-Fox was traded in to Maxim Motors in 1961. Others owned her until 1981 when the Bare Cove Fire Museum acquired her, restored her and had her in the 1985 Hingham 4 th of July parade. She is now kept in the Bare Cove Fire Museum.
This photo is from the museum’s archives along with many others.