NO . 201 5 - 9 Municipal Technological Change in the 19 th Century : The Diffusion of

The views expressed in the Working Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Economics or of the University of Delaware. Working Papers have not undergone any formal review and approval and are circulated for discussion purposes only and should not be quoted without permission. Your comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to the corresponding author. Copyright belongs to the author(s). We provide the first empirical analysis of the diffusion pattern of the most important innovation in firefighting equipment during the latter half of the nineteenth century: steam powered water pumpers. We offer the first systematic empirical support for the hypothesis that local businesses influenced the timing of the initial adoption of this technology in order to facilitate a change from mostly autonomous volunteer firefighting organizations to a more professional and centralized municipal department. " First, it never gets drunk; second, it never throws brickbats, and the only drawback connected with it is that it can't vote. " Miles Greenwood, Cincinnati's first fire chief, commenting on the first steam-powered firefighting engine 1