Bucket brigades, a chain of buckets passed along a line to a fire, were soon replaced by these lighter hoses, giving fire apparatus a steadier water supply. Firefighters transported the hose on a hose carriage, a wheeled reel that could carry over 100 feet of hose. From the late 1830s to the early 1900s, hose carriages accompanied hand pumpers and steam engines, providing firefighters with water from wells or cisterns. Many hose carriages had two large bells to alert townspeople to the approaching apparatus. By the late 1900s, hose carriages were phased out as larger towns and cities began carrying hoses in an open-top hose wagon rather than on a reel. Fire departments often kept retired hose carriages for parades.

This hose carriage, its official maker and origin unknown, was used from 1874 to 1898 by the Hibernia Fire Company No. 6 of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The four-wheeled hose carriage was replaced in 1898 by a more modern Holloway Combination Chemical Engine and Hose Wagon. It joined the Koorsen Fire Museum collection in 2017.