And lo, Livermore said, “Let there be light!”
This year marks 123 years of illumination from the Livermore Centennial Light Bulb, which has been a glimmering beacon for the city’s residents since the year 1901.
To put that in perspective, that light bulb is older than the teddy bear (invented in 1902), the Wright brothers’ first flight (1903), the invention of corn flakes (1906) and the first candy apple (1908). The bulb’s light has outlasted most summer flings, many college relationships and the number of A’s seasons at the Coliseum. And the Centennial Light Bulb has been highlighted over the years by the Guinness Book of World Records, which declared it the longest burning bulb on Earth and the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters.
“It really is one of the wonders of the world,” says Livermore mayor John Marchand. “People have come from all over the world to see the lightbulb. I think the integrity of that lightbulb matches that of the people it serves. And it shows things can be built to last.”
Consider how long your lightbulbs last before you scoff over such high praise. This bulb is extraordinary. The city celebrated the mighty Centennial Bulb’s millionth hour of illumination in 2015 and has added another 78,849 hours to the total — so far.
The bulb’s 60-watt, carbon-filamented birth can be traced back to the late 1890s, when Ohio’s former Shelby Electric Company sent it to Dennis Bernal, who owned the Livermore Power and Light Company at the time.
These days, you’ll find it at the Livermore Fire Department, which opened its first firehouse in 1876. Back then, Livermore was a travel stop on the road between San Francisco and Stockton with a population of 830. Retired deputy fire chief Tom Bramell – official Keeper of the Bulb — says Bernal donated the bulb to the fire department in 1901 to illuminate a hose cart house, where firefighters once hitched their horses to a trolley before riding out to battle fires.
Former deputy fire chief and chairperson of the Centennial Light Bulb Committee Tom Bramell, of Livermore, kneels atop an emergency vehicle at the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department Station 6. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group File)
At the time, firefighters used a kerosene lamp for illumination in the dead of night. Bernal hoped his electric bulb would add a glow — safely — so firefighters could see in the dark without risk of burning down their own cart house.
The light has beamed ever since, though not without some struggles.
“The lightbulb isn’t burning out, but the webcams are,” Bramell says.
Livermore residents lovingly refer to the lightbulb as “world famous.” They’re not wrong. Fans from Amsterdam, Australia, Asia and elsewhere log on daily to watch the bulb’s live stream — although the live stream has failed a couple of times, as the bulb out-sparkled the camera battery.
The bulb took some hits back in the day, when firefighters bumped or tapped the dangling light as they raced from the station on service calls – a precarious good luck tradition the bulb has survived. It also survived its 1976 move from its first home — at the former Fire Station 1 on First and McLeod streets — to the current Fire Station 6 at 4550 East Ave. with a full police and fire truck escort.
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In May of 2013, its beam was interrupted for about nine and a half hours when the backup power system, which was supposed to be fail-safe, failed. But the power source was switched, and the light glimmered again.
It’s the oldest light in the world, but it didn’t get that title without some competition. It outlived a 100-year-old light bulb in Fort Worth, Texas; a 91-year-old bulb in New York; a third competing bulb in New York City; a fourth one in a Magnum, Oklahoma, firehouse; and another notable rival in Ipswich, United Kingdom, Bramell says.
But will it ever go out?
“Who knows how long it’ll last,” Bramell says. “It could be there another 100 years. It’s just amazing.”
Details: Visit the bulb from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. daily, when the fire crew is on-site at Fire Station No. 6, 4550 East Ave. in Livermore. Find more information or watch the Bulb Cam at www.centennialbulb.org.