Howard Iron Works

Howard Iron Works

Howard Iron Works hydrants were produced in Buffalo, NY during the late 1800's until sometime in the early 1900's. Not a lot of information is available on this company. The city of Buffalo is the only place in the world that uses Howards. Buffalo started using Howards in 1875 when they first installed fire hydrants. The Howard is the only hydrant I know of that has the two piece skirt on the bottom. The original skirts were made of cast iron. Later they were made of fiberglass.

There were five models of Howards produced. Four of them are still around but the fifth, "The Jumbo" has all but disappeared. I believe one is still around in a private collection. It was a high pressure hydrant.

Howard "Jumbo"

Notice the independent gates on the top of the hydrants.

Note: Picture courtesy of FireHydrant.Org

I have two of the other four Howards in my collection.

These Howards were donated by the City of Buffalo Water Authority.

Howard two-way with steamer on the left.

Howard two-way with steamer on right.

Two different bonnets were used for the Howard.

One was made by Buffalo Forge, possibly a replacement piece.

Double steamer Howard. There are a dozen or less of this model left. This one is in another collector's museum in Massachussetts.

A postcard from Howard Iron Works dated 1907.