The horizontal stationery steam engine was originally built by the E.P. Allis Company in 1905. At the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, representatives of the Bush & Lane Piano Company ordered an engine based on one that was on display at the Fair for a new factory being built in Holland Michigan on 24th St and Columbia. It was installed there in 1905 to be the sole power source for all of the machinery in the building.
This engine was connected to a "line shaft" by a rare rope belting system that wrapped around the outer surface of the flywheel. The line shaft system distributed the rotating power supply to the manufacturing areas of the building where a belt in a pulley on this shaft transmitted the power to the individual machines.
Prior to the advent of the reliable electric sources and individualized motors on machinery, this was the motor of the era. Many factories across the United States were powered this way during this same time period.
Bush & Lane ceased operations in 1929, and in 1933 this facility was purchased by Baker Furniture and has since ceased operations in 2004. Today the old Baker Furniture building has been converted to Condominiums and retail commercial use.
The engine was donated to the City of Holland and has recently been restored during the summer of 2003 by a group of volunteers and put in static display for all to marvel at our industrial heritage.
