Fire and Police Call Boxes

The early fire call boxes were accessible to citizens to use in case of a fire. By activating a lever inside the box, people across the city could alert authorities to fires in their area.

Each individually-numbered box was connected to central dispatch through a vast network of underground telegraph cables. When the lever was pulled, the box’s internal telegraph would transmit the box’s number to the central station. The number corresponded to a map location, and fire engines would be dispatched to the area.

The image on the right and below show the fire alarm box design, which are either harp- or house-shaped.

Unlike the harp-shaped fire alarm call boxes, the oval police patrol call boxes were not accessible to the public. Instead, police patrolmen would access the boxes with a specialized key and use the telephone inside to check in with their stations while out on their rounds.

Patrolmen could communicate information to their station about crime, ask for assistance or transport for arrested persons, or receive information about crimes that had occurred or were in progress along their route. Like the fire alarm call boxes, the police patrol call boxes were numbered and corresponded to map locations. Patrolmen were expected to check in from different boxes along their route within a specific amount of time.

On the left, a Department of Highways technician works to repair a police call box in the 1950s. Below, an early police call box is shown outside of a restaurant in the 1940s.