A Look at LFD History:
In the early 1920s, when the Livingston Fire Department was formed, the only way to notify firefighters of a call was the use of large steel rings. The rings, railroad track bent into sixfoot circles, were mounted on frames across town. When residents detected a fire, they then ran to the nearest of the 12 rings and began hitting it with the sledgehammer mounted nearby. As others heard the alarm, they ran to other rings until as many as possible were being hit, alerting firefighters of the call. The first ring would continue to be hit so the firefighters would know the area to respond when they arrived at the firehouse.
In the 1970s, Fire Department members took one of the three surviving rings to the home of Chief Charles Schilling on Meadowbrook Road while he and his family were on vacation. They constructed a pipe frame to hold the ring, which would adorn the front lawn for decades. Following Chief Schilling’s death in 2020, members donated the historic alarm to the Boonton Firemen’s Home, a care facility for elderly and disabled firefighters from every corner of New Jersey.
Working closely with the facility’s board of directors, the Livingston Fire Department had the ring sandblasted and restored with powder coat paint. It was mounted on a newly constructed frame next to a plaque honoring the memory of Chief Schilling’s service as Lieutenant of an Army Medic Unit during the D-Day Invasion of France in World War II; as Livingston Fire Chief from 1954 to 1990; as LFD member for 73 years; and as a founding member of the Livingston First Aid Squad. The plaque and ring are now mounted in front of the Firemen’s Home, which opened in 1900. It is directly outside the facility’s Fire Museum, where all who visit will see it for years to come.
The above article and photos were provided by Livingston Fire Department president Tom Cooney. Cooney is currently writing a comprehensive history of the LFD.
The Firemen’s Home, shown at right, a care facility for elderly and disabled firefighters, was built on the estate of prominent Boonton resident William Gerard Lathrop. It opened in 1900. The Livingston Fire Department ring hangs in front of the building, opposite its Fire Museum. Above, the ring was restored and installed at the New Jersey Firemen’s Home in Boonton after Chief Schilling’s death. With it is a plaque highlighting Chief Schilling’s long career of service.
