Operated by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, the New York Fire Patrol was organized in 1839 to patrol lower Manhattan. Their job was twofold: to discover fires and to prevent losses to insured properties. The New York Fire Patrol evolved, and in 1867, a state charter was granted to legally extinguish fires and conduct salvage operations throughout New York City. The New York Fire Patrol is the oldest paid fire service in the United States, and it also remains the last insurance-funded fire salvage corps in the country. Today, the fire patrol continues to serve the city of New York,...

Through the pages of this book, we encounter every
aspect of Keyport's rich heritage: bustling street-scenes;
magnificent old theaters; busy carriage factories; the oyster
industry in its heyday; the airport where Charles Lindbergh
once made a mysterious visit; Keyport's own National
Guard unit; the Central Railroad of New Jersey at the peak
of the age of steam; and the devastating fires that nearly
destroyed Keyport in the nineteenth century.

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
the Keyport neighborhoods of Browns Point,
Lockport, and Mechanicsville had distinct commercial
and industrial districts that have all but disappeared
today. Timothy E. Regan's new book on Keyport offers
a glimpse into the lives of these early businesses and
the citizens who created them, along with a look at the
remarkable architecture of this bayside town.
This fascinating overview of life in Keyport from
1860 through the 1970s also includes an in-depth
look at the men and machines of the Keyport...