Livermore-pleasanton Fire Department history

Livermore had jumped from a merchant ship which made a stop in Monterey, California in 1822.

In 1839, the Mexican government gave a man named Richard Livermore the Livermore Valley.

In 1840, with Rancho Las Positas secured, Livermore and Higuera settled in the Livermore Valley, in an adobe on Las Positas Creek.

In 1846 he was the first person to plant commercial vineyards, as well as orchards of pears and olives.

With the historic discovery of gold in the Sierra Foothills in 1848, the Livermore Valley and Robert Livermore were in a unique and fortuitous position.

In 1849, Livermore used his profits to purchase what is believed to be the valley’s first wooden structure, a two-story home for his family.

After Livermore died in 1858, the town was named in his honor.

Livermore, known as the oldest wine region in California, was founded in 1869 by William Mendenhall and named after Robert Livermore.

With the continuous growth of the city, people voted to incorporate Livermore in 1876.

Established in 1888, Pleasanton Fire Department began with twenty volunteers, two hose carts and a Hook and Ladder Company which carried twenty leather fire buckets.

Also in 1889, a wine from Livermore won America’s first gold medal for wine at the Paris Exposition, drawing worldwide attention.

In 1901, one of the Livermore firehouses installed a hand-blown light bulb.

In 1908 the library applied and won a $10,000 grant through the Carnegie Library donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

Business magnate and philantropist Andrew Carnegie donated a fortune to the city, which in turn used it in erecting the now-historic Livermore Carnegie Library and Park in 1909.

Agriculture and ranching continue to be important, and the city is the site of the Livermore Stockmen’s Association annual rodeo, which was first held in 1918.

Livermore, as a scenic ranching community, took on a rather radical turn in 1942 when the government bought a land to build the Livermore Naval Air Station.

The one-time ranch became the Livermore Naval Air Station, where Navy pilots were trained for fighting in World War II. The base was decommissioned in 1946 after the war’s end, but remained a government property.

The surplus naval base was made into the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1952, which has become one of the world’s renowned laboratories.

The city welcomed Sandia National Laboratory in 1956.

As the final show of their American tour, the Rolling Stones held a one-day rock festival at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California, on December 6, 1969.

The bulb has burned continuously since 1976, hooked up to its own power source.

In 1984, Livermore’s microclimate was deemed perfect for growing varietals like Sauvingnon Blanc, Semillion and Cabernet grapes.

In 1996, the Livermore Fire Department and the Pleasanton Fire Department joined forces as a Joint Powers Authority to form The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department.

In 2012, Livermore was named after a new element on the Periodic Table of Elements by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Livermorium (Lv, atomic number 116) is a synthetic super-heavy element.

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