While my phone charger barely lasts six months, the Centennial Light at a fire station in Livermore, California, is hitting its 125th anniversary this summer!
It’s been glowing since 1901, and Guinness World Records has officially crowned it the longest-burning lightbulb in the world. It’s a Bay Area celebrity at this point, drawing in visitors from all over the globe just to see a 4-watt glow that refuses to quit. It’s only been turned off a few times, mostly when the firehouse moved, and even when it “went out” in 2013, it wasn’t the bulb’s fault; a generator battery died.
It was built in 1897 with a super thick carbon filament. Production of these specific bulbs stopped in 1912, so once this one finally goes, that’s it!
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