Fred Goerlitz
Northeast Chapter / PCS Life Member
Yesterday, Rich Litton and I visited some of the first aid squads in Union and Essex counties in NJ. Rich is on the NJ State First Aid Council History Committee and is a regular contributor to the Council's magazine, The Gold Cross. We visited six squads and took pictures of the current ambulances as well as documented their vehicle history. For those of you who don't know Rich, he is probably the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the volunteer squads' vehicles both new and old. He has pictures of almost all of the current vehicles for about 80% of the 460 volunteer squads in the state as well as tons of older photos.
I will detail some of the older (mostly pro-car) info we obtained yesterday:
Millburn-Short Hills (Essex County)-started in 1958 with a NEW '58 S&S Professional. They added a second rig (used '56 S&S from somewhere in PA) in 1960. New S&S ambulances were purchased in 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968 and 1970. These were all Blue and White with the exception of the first 2 Cadillacs. In 1972, a Superior 54 was purchased. Subsequent Superior purchases were in 1973 and 1974. The 1974 was the last Professional Car purchased by Millburn Short Hills and was sold to the Long Valley First Aid Squad in Morris County in late 1976 or early 1977. In 1976 Millburn-Short Hills moved into the "modern" era with the purhcase of 2 GMC Transmode/Wolf Coach 2 stretcher motor-home chassisied ambulances. Millburn-Short Hills has tons of pictures and was very receptive to our visit. Rich is hoping they will scan some pictures for us!
Roselle Park First Aid (Union County)-founded 1940 with a used 1933 Studebaker (builder unknown) purchased from a local hospital. It was replaced in 1950 with a Superior Cadillac. The Superior was replaced with a 1960 Miller-Meteor which was in service until replaced with a 1967 C-B Oldsmobile 42 inch headroom ambulance. In 1970, Roselle Park purchased thier last professional car which was a 1970 C-B Oldsmobile 48 inch headroom ambulance.
We hit the jackpot at our next stop which was Springfield First Aid Squad in Springfield, NJ. Springfield was started in 1949 with a used ambulance (unknown year or builder). All of Springfield's former ambulances are displayed in framed photographs on the wall. (We asked for them to scan these as well). The original unit was replaced with another used one, a 1947-1949 S&S Cadillac which was in service until it was replaced in 1956 with a new S&S Hi-top. In 1959, Springfield bought a new 1959 Eureka Hi-Boy Ambulance. It was joined in 1960 by a Miller-Meteor Guardian! New Miller-Meteors followed in 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1971. All vehicles after that were truck based ambulances.
Our Next Stop was Mountainside Rescue Squad which was founded in 1938. Having just renovated their meeting room, none of the pictures were hanging on the wall but we did see 3 professional car photos. They are an early 30's (again builder unknown) ambulance, a circa 1939 Henney Packard and a 1972 Blue and White Superior purchased in 1974 (our thought was that it came from nearby Millburn-Short Hills). While there were no pictures between the Packard and the Cadillac Rich anticipates another trip there during the winter to better assess their vehicle history.
Our final 2 stops were at Westfield and Kenilworth but there were no accessible older vehicle pictures at either location.
Sorry for rambling on but it was a fun day and I hope to join Rich again for more research!
Fred
I will detail some of the older (mostly pro-car) info we obtained yesterday:
Millburn-Short Hills (Essex County)-started in 1958 with a NEW '58 S&S Professional. They added a second rig (used '56 S&S from somewhere in PA) in 1960. New S&S ambulances were purchased in 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968 and 1970. These were all Blue and White with the exception of the first 2 Cadillacs. In 1972, a Superior 54 was purchased. Subsequent Superior purchases were in 1973 and 1974. The 1974 was the last Professional Car purchased by Millburn Short Hills and was sold to the Long Valley First Aid Squad in Morris County in late 1976 or early 1977. In 1976 Millburn-Short Hills moved into the "modern" era with the purhcase of 2 GMC Transmode/Wolf Coach 2 stretcher motor-home chassisied ambulances. Millburn-Short Hills has tons of pictures and was very receptive to our visit. Rich is hoping they will scan some pictures for us!
Roselle Park First Aid (Union County)-founded 1940 with a used 1933 Studebaker (builder unknown) purchased from a local hospital. It was replaced in 1950 with a Superior Cadillac. The Superior was replaced with a 1960 Miller-Meteor which was in service until replaced with a 1967 C-B Oldsmobile 42 inch headroom ambulance. In 1970, Roselle Park purchased thier last professional car which was a 1970 C-B Oldsmobile 48 inch headroom ambulance.
We hit the jackpot at our next stop which was Springfield First Aid Squad in Springfield, NJ. Springfield was started in 1949 with a used ambulance (unknown year or builder). All of Springfield's former ambulances are displayed in framed photographs on the wall. (We asked for them to scan these as well). The original unit was replaced with another used one, a 1947-1949 S&S Cadillac which was in service until it was replaced in 1956 with a new S&S Hi-top. In 1959, Springfield bought a new 1959 Eureka Hi-Boy Ambulance. It was joined in 1960 by a Miller-Meteor Guardian! New Miller-Meteors followed in 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1971. All vehicles after that were truck based ambulances.
Our Next Stop was Mountainside Rescue Squad which was founded in 1938. Having just renovated their meeting room, none of the pictures were hanging on the wall but we did see 3 professional car photos. They are an early 30's (again builder unknown) ambulance, a circa 1939 Henney Packard and a 1972 Blue and White Superior purchased in 1974 (our thought was that it came from nearby Millburn-Short Hills). While there were no pictures between the Packard and the Cadillac Rich anticipates another trip there during the winter to better assess their vehicle history.
Our final 2 stops were at Westfield and Kenilworth but there were no accessible older vehicle pictures at either location.
Sorry for rambling on but it was a fun day and I hope to join Rich again for more research!
Fred
