Students heading out to Wednesday recess at College Place Elementary found a very special piece of play equipment waiting in the school yard: a shiny red 1938 Ford fire engine.
Brought to College Place as a special treat by school volunteer, long-time Edmonds resident, and 30-year veteran of the Seattle Fire Department Greg Jorgenson, the fire engine elicited squeals of delight from students as they ran out of the building and rushed to swarm all over it.
Originally purchased in 1938 by the City of Edmonds for $3,200, it remained in service till the late 1960s. Now maintained as a living piece of our history, it is a regular feature in the annual Fourth of July parade, Farmers’ Markets and other public gatherings.
Jorgenson, a 15-year volunteer at College Place, is known to the children and school staff simply as Grandpa Greg. “This is a beautifully preserved piece of equipment, and an important piece of our history” he said, “But today it’s here for fun.”
And the students couldn’t have agreed more, as they climbed over every inch of the fire engine, donned fire helmets, and sat behind the wheel imagining themselves racing off to a fight a fire.
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
I attended college place elementary and college place middle in 1981 and 1982..I played footbal for both schools,,my coach was Jerry Huntley. Their was newspaper articles of me playing football..can those articles be found.thank you.michael dalton
Hi Michael — we’ve only been around since 2009. Might want to try doing a search for Lynnwood or Edmonds Enterprise as that was the newspaper publishing at the time — while they no longer exist the archives may.
Teresa