Excerpts from midweek news.com:
About 150 community members filled the Sycamore fire station Saturday morning to eat pancakes and to take a closer look at the newly restored 1923 Stutz fire engine.
The breakfast was a fundraiser to help find a permanent location to display the engine. Retired Fire Chief Gene Ege, who also is president of the Sycamore Fire Preservation Company, said the group recently completed the bodywork on the truck after it was dormant for several years.
“We formed in 2000 when we first got word that the fire truck was available from a collector to bring back to Sycamore,” Ege said. “It was the first motorized fire engine to pump water in Sycamore. The truck they had before this was a chemical truck – like a fire extinguisher on wheels. This was the first engine that would actually hook to a hydrant and pump water.”
It was in operation from 1923 to 1957.
“In 1966, it was sold at a public auction because they didn’t have room to keep it,” Ege said. “It went through three or four different collectors until 2000.”
A collector in Indiana contacted the city and gave Sycamore the opportunity to buy it
“It still had our name on the hood,” Ege said.
The group raised money and bought the truck in August 2001. Ege said that when 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina hit the country, the restoration efforts for the truck were put on hold.
“Money was needed elsewhere, but then three years ago we started fundraising again,” Ege said.
Ege said the entire cost of the project has been donor funded; no city money has been used. Marty and Sons Body Shop in Sycamore worked on the $25,000 restoration project for a year and a half.
Sycamore History Museum Executive Director Michelle Donahoe said the museum board and the preservation group are in discussions to find a permanent location to display the truck.
“It’s an important piece of Sycamore’s history, so we’re trying to be creative and come up with different ideas to get a permanent home for it,” Donahoe said. “We’re in the early stages, but I think it’s a good fit.”
