03/22/2026
From Vintage Bergen County:
Call the ambulance! Here is the Allendale Ambulance Corps first ambulance, a 1926 Reo. This certainly is a far cry from the very modern equipped ambulances of today, but it got the job done. In 1923, a serious auto accident in Allendale caused officials to support the idea of an Ambulance for the borough. But nothing came of the idea. In August 1930, when a man had a medical emergency at Hutches pool in Allendale, and the ambulance from Ridgewood was the nearest one.
Finally, in June 1937, the Allendale Ambulance Corps was organized by volunteers. The 14 volunteers and several borough officials, who acted in advisory capacity, became the custodians and operators of the recently acquired department of public safety ambulance. The nearly 10-year-old ambulance was equipped with new tires and battery and was declared in perfect order. The borough was also going to buy a siren and red emergency light (visible in the picture) to warn people that the ambulance was on the way to a call.
The Ambulance Corps volunteers immediately began to secure first aid literature from the American Red Cross so they would be well-versed in caring for people. The leadership of the corps was looking to have a requirement that first aid tests were passed by the volunteers. In addition, the volunteers were going to have instruction from time to time from doctors, nurses, and other ambulance drivers.
To summon the volunteers to arrive and go out on a call, the town was looking to install a gong that would be rung. The ambulance though, was not to go out “promiscuously,” as reported by Ridgewood’s ‘The Sunday News’, rather only when called by a doctor or an accident on the highway.
The pictured ambulance was replaced in 1939, and the new replacement unit served the town until it was replaced in 1952. And at that time the Allendale Ambulance Corps served Allendale, Waldwick, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, and Ramsey. Today, the Allendale Ambulance Corps is a highly trained group of volunteers that operate two very modern ambulances. – Tim Adriance (Photo credit: Allendale Ambulance Corps.)
