Berthoud Fire Protection District

The history of the hose cart goes back to 1888. Shortly after the Berthoud town government was formed and the Davis-Hartford Mercantile building burned to the ground, it was determined that firefighting capabilities were essential. A fire committee was appointed by the town board with instructions to investigate the cost of a fire hose cart with tools and 600 feet of fire hose. The cart, tools, and equipment were purchased a few months later for the stately sum of $1,500.00. Not long after the arrival of the new cart, a group of volunteers were recruited, and the Berthoud Hose Company #1 was born. The cart was housed on fourth street, in the hose house that the volunteers built themselves for $250.00. If a fire was detected in the community, the citizens knew to run to the house and ring the bell in the bell tower to alert the volunteer hose company members. At the sound of the bell the volunteers would rush to the hose house, strap on a wide leather belt, attach the rope on the hose cart to their belts and take off pulling the cart as fast as they could through the streets of Berthoud.

The photo above is the 1888 hose cart that has been restored. The only modifications known to the original cart was the addition of the bell to alert people to move out of the way for the cart and in later years a wooden box was added to carry additional tools. In the early 1920’s the “T-Handle” on the tongue was removed and a hook installed so that the cart could be pulled behind a car.