Freehold Fire Department marks 150th anniversary with solemn ceremony

The Freehold Borough Fire Department held a ceremonial service to celebrate its 150th anniversary on April 24.

The department was initially founded on April 20, 1872.

Nolan Higgins directed the service, which included a procession by the Freehold Fire Department down West Main Street to the firehouse, led by two bagpipers from Christian Brothers Academy; an invocation by the Rev. Jonathan Elsensohn, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Freehold; the singing of the national anthem; a rose presentation to the widows of the fire department; a presentation of resolutions by members of the Freehold Borough Council and Freehold Township Committee; the history of the department presented by borough historian Kevin Coyne; The Firefighters Prayer read by Deacon Matthew Nicosia, chaplain of the Freehold Fire Department; the tolling of the firehouse bell after the reading of the names of the fallen (Lester Van Schoick, Leroy Van Schoick, Joseph Storey, John Felton and Alfred Thomas Landwehr); and a closing benediction by Jennifer Elsensohn, pastoral associate from the Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine of Freehold Township.