Fire alarm boxes of various shapes and sizes remain familiar sights on NYC streets. In general you can find a fire alarm on every other corner as you walk NYC neighborhoods that employ a grid street layout system, and with other street layout designs you also find them scattered at intervals. The designs have changed quite a bit over the years; the freestanding design with the torch at the apex that looks like an ice cream cone was first introduced in 1912 and has undergone a number of permutations. When a fire box is attached to a telephone pole, they are generally rectangular-shaped with the exception of a hooded top. However, today I’m showing a rarity at 48th Avenue and 67th Street I sought out on a recent walk in Woodside—I sought it out to make sure it’s still there.
The first telegraph fire alarm system was developed by William Francis Channing and Moses G. Farmer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852. Two years later they applied for a patent for their “Electromagnetic Fire Alarm Telegraph for Cities”. In 1855 John Gamewell of South Carolina purchased regional rights to market the fire alarm telegraph, later obtaining the patents and full rights to the system in 1859. wikipedia
So here’s a rare Gamewell fire alarm. Gamewell was acquired by Honeywell Security and Fire, who, I imagine, continues to maintain the Gamewell equipment. The city has updated this one with pushbuttons to call the NYPD and FDNY (remember the commercials with Walt Frazier when these were new?)
There are a number of decommissioned Gamewells around town, but the only working model I know of (which also has the pushbuttons) is located in Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan. If anyone knows of any other Gamewell fire alarms, let me know in Comments.
As noted below there is one at 48th Avenue and 197th Street in Auburndale, though the front is invisible in Street View.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
8/4/20
16 comments
There’s one of these boxes right by my workplace on Staten Island. That wouldn’t be surprising except for the facts that (a) the box is some decades old, and (b) until just a few years ago the area was completely undeveloped. It was vacant land once proposed as a site for a NASCAR track. Other than the new developments there had been nothing in the vicinity except a couple of concrete plants a quarter-mile or more away.
Exact cooordinates?
There’s definitely one at Western Avenue and Washington Street near the Goethals Bridge…it’s not far from the property that the track was going to be at
Kevin this is something you might not have noticed that makes your box there even more special: it has a failed false-alarm prevention device on top of it that made an ear-harming sound when the person used the box…it was attached likely in the 50s or 60s, when false-alarms were becoming a major nuisance.
The boxes have a huge use that isn’t known outside of fire departments: they provide exact locations. The original intent is still valid with them, you know the exact area of where a fire is by the box struck on the station’s gong. Each vehicle has maps and listings of box numbers, even vehicles from other boroughs unfamiliar with the area can get to a fire just be consulting the box map.
And many places are removing them due to maintenance costs, places like Boston not only maintain them but go out of their way to keep them up and running as they’re actually more resilient than cellphone communications!
I wondered what that thing is.
Further research: they’re called Arrestoalarm sirens, also built by Gamewell and were replaced directly by the two-way radio that you see there.Oddly enough, that picture is a mix of three eras all in one!
That box does not have a two way radio, it is called an ERS box and operates over the existing cabling the FDNY has in place.
Although not in NYC, the Villages of Bellrose and New Hyde Park in Nassau County still have original Gamewell “telegraph” fire alarm boxes on the street corners throughout the villages.. To my knowledge there are no other of these types anywhere else in the metropolitan New York area. The Village of Bellrose asked if I could take over servicing them. Although the company I worked for could not handle servicing them. I could because of my 48 year experience in the security industry., but I am way too old to climb telephone poles. My advice to them was, if you have someone already who can handle it, hold on to them for dear life because their are very few who even know what the service is let alone can service them. The Gamewell boxes used leased series circuit telephone lines. Inside each box was a brass code wheel that would turn when the handle was pulled. The code wheel would tap our a unique code on a paper tape register (much like a stock ticker tape) in a central station or fire department dispatch center. Once the signal was received an operator would look up the information and dispatch the fire department to that specific location. Once upon a time that was the only way a fire or burglar alarm system would summon help. Today everything is high speed internet based and received on computers. I was fortunate enough to have worked with the old technologies and instrumental in the change to today’s technology.
I was down there just a few weeks ago and found those.
Gamewell systems did NOT use lease lines. The had there own municipal loop wiring on the poles back to the firehouse. Depending on the size of the system there could be multiple loops. I serviced these system for over 20 years. I believe Bellrose Terrace still has a system also. At one time there were about 40 of these systems in Nassau County. Some were quite large.
Hey Gary, since you serviced these systems, would you know of a place that can cut code wheels?
I think I answered my own question. Years ago, before the NASCAR proposal, the area housed many large oil storage tanks.
THERES ONE OUTSIDE MY OLD HOUSE IN OZONE
If they are still intact, do they still connect to the police and fire departments or they are disabled and just for display these days?
There is an old style Pull Handle Gamewell (with siren on top) on 48 Ave opposite 197 St in Bayside Qns NY……many years ago when i was working in the area i had the Box pulled for a test & the QNS Dispatcher reported that it was working (they received the Alarm) however the Siren on top was either disconnected of just no longer sounding….as of July 2020 the Box is still there since i took some pictures of it to send to a friend who was interested in hearing about Gamewell… this particular Box numbered 1571 is mounted on an older wooden utility pole….a new pole has been placed next to it but no wires etc have been transferred over as of mid 2020 ….i think possibly when the FDNY Communications moves it over to the new pole the Gamewell may be replaced by a more (somewhat) modern one… .i don’t know the working status of this Box anymore since many North QNS Alarm Boxes have been malfunctioning sine the two tornadoes on Sept 16 2010….. the City seems to rely on cell phones more so than Street Alarm Boxes today but this is a fallacy since on many occasions the cell service has been overloaded with just minor usage occurrences (well documented) ….i have always said if a child in pajamas escapes their burning home at 4 AM & runs to their corner Alarm Box & it does not work what next ?…..the City is rolling the dice….. if you google the intersection of 48 Ave opposite 197 St QNS NY & by scrolling the arrows around you should be able to see the Box.
hah! I discovered an old Police Telegraph box with “citizen’s key” in the upper middle, fist holding bolts at top — by a doorway of an apartment dweling in Hoboken, NJ! it is #52, The Gamewell Co New York. York.
I had no clue of what it was, so I snapped a picture and looked it up when I got home. Very interesting! Being number 52, I’d guess it must be fairly old? 1900’s or so? I wish I could post the photo here for you to see and appreciate it! 🙂