ID Tell us what you need
  1. Home
  2. Stories
  3. the bulb
the bulb

The light bulb that has been on since 1901

This light bulb has been glowing in a California fire station since 1901.

Watch it in Bahasa Indonesia →

Share this story WhatsApp X Facebook LinkedIn

The real story

The Centennial Light is a hand-blown, carbon-filament bulb made by the Shelby Electric Company of Ohio in the late 1890s. It was hung in Livermore's hose cart house in 1901 and has moved fire stations only a few times. It went dark for about a week in 1937, for 22 minutes during a move in 1976 (with a police and fire escort), and for nearly ten hours when its power supply failed in 2013.

It started at around 60 watts and now glows at about 4, and that gentle life is a big part of why it has lasted. Guinness lists it as the longest-burning bulb, and fans watch it on a live 'BulbCam'. The bulb has outlived several of those webcams. It passed one million hours in 2015 and turned 125 in 2026.

What the narrator says

Tap a line to jump to it.

The facts we checked

  • The Centennial Light hangs in a fire station in Livermore, California, and has been glowing since 1901
  • It has been switched off only briefly (about a week in 1937, 22 minutes in 1976, ~10 hours in 2013); it burns at about 4 watts and has outlived several of its webcams

Sources

We checked every number and date on screen before the video was made.

Made by teodolist studio

Want a series like this?

Need videos like this for your brand or school?

We made all 240 of these, in English and Indonesian, from one script each. We make story series for brands, schools and channels.

Tell us what you need How storybook videos work Videos for schools

More stories like this

0:51 the first web page The first website ever made is still online 0:51 the last payphone The last payphone in New York City 1:06 the box The steel box that changed the world: the first container ship (1956) 1:06 the flyer From 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk to Mars: the Wright Flyer's journey 0:59 the word Why we say 'hello' on the phone (and not 'ahoy') 1:05 the volcano Krakatau 1883: the loudest sound in recorded history

← All stories Next story: Komodo dragons: the 'dragon' that's really a giant lizard →