Confidence Engine Company

Confidence Engine Company. City Hill. Erected in 1860, this part of City Hall housed the Confidence Engine Company which was originally formed as The Mountaineer Engine Company. When flames engulfed most of the town in 1856, concerned citizens of Placerville realized that even the best organized fire company would be lost fighting another major conflagration without a fire engine. In 1857, the group of volunteers solicited the funds to purchase a used engine and 250 feet of fire hose from Sacramento’s Engine Company No.1. Finding it impossible to remove the deeply ingraved title “Confidence Engine No.1” from the newly acquired engine, the company decided to adopt the name., Atop the building, Confidence Engine Company raised a wooden copula that it used to drain its leather fire hoses. A large wooden building adjoined in the rear and served as the site for some of the county’s earliest fairs. The hall also hosted the company’s annual New Year’s Ball, as well as concerts, plays and other civic events until fire consumed it in 1910. Many times in the history of the Confidence Engine Company, the second floor of the brick building also served as a dance Hall. From 1902 until 2004, Placerville City Government occupied the old firehouse.