By Ken Foust
Shovel All the Coal In
McLoughlin Brothers
picture blocks
| by Ken Foust |
In the 1890s, any boy who was on favorable terms with Santa Claus could assemble a sizeable toy fire department. Toy makers produced a nearly endless variety of pumpers and ladder wagons in every size a young man could want, but they didn’t stop there. Many also offered a good assortment of hose reel wagons and fire patrols wagons as well. And if that wasn’t enough, a few even included chief’s wagons, water towers, and at least one chemical ladder wagon. No imaginary fire stood much of a chance against the young fire chief who had seven different vehicles at his disposal. Until a month ago I figured those were all the types of fire fighting apparatus I’d ever see in toy form, but I was wrong. Oddly enough, the eighth one wasn’t made of tin or iron; it appeared on a set of blocks, and it was designed to carry coal.
Perhaps it’s strange that we don’t think about a steam pumper needing much fuel. Every steam locomotive needed a coal tender; indeed, it’s a rare toy train set that doesn’t include one. When the world’s navies changed from sail to steam, they also needed to carry plenty of coal with them, often converting outdated warships into coal boats called “colliers” that would accompany the fleet. How fast a steam pumper went through coal was partially a function of whether it was horse-drawn or self-propelled, but either way once it arrived at a major fire it could be there a while. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 lasted three days, as did the fire that followed the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Other major cities including Baltimore, Houston, and Salem also had huge fires in the early 1900s.
The set of blocks was named the Fire Department & ABC Picture Blocks. It was made by the distinguished firm of McLoughlin Brothers, and was copyrighted in 1893. The box lid shows three boys with a huge toy ladder wagon knocking down a set of blocks while their little sister stands by a pumper. The nine 4” by 2½” blocks beneath it are made of cardboard, covered in lithographed paper, and carry superb pictures of no less than eight different vehicles. Most pictures employ two blocks, one showing horses and the other a wagon. The hook and ladder wagon and the water tower each require three blocks. The coal wagon isn’t terribly elaborate; indeed, it simply carries several drums piled high with fuel. The sides of the blocks without horses or vehicles carry letters and pictures of things starting with them. The ends of the blocks have all 26 letters and the numbers zero through nine.
Whether Reed or Bliss ever made a similar set of blocks I can’t say, but J. H. Singer of New York certainly did. He also used nine blocks, but they were each solid wood, and only included a pumper, hose reel, fire patrol, and ladder wagon. Still, it’s a handsome set.
Not surprisingly, McLoughlin didn’t make just one set of blocks in this size. It also produced a set that has a passenger train on one side, a circus parade on the other, and identical alphabet letters on the ends. That set was composed of “rattle blocks,” in other words, each of the blocks contains an object that rattles when the block is shaken. Whether there are more sets in the series, I can’t say. I also can’t say whether still more types of fire-fighting toys will turn up, but I hope they do. The toys we never imagined can not only shed an interesting light on the past, but make our toy hunting that much more rewarding in the future.