single vintage american industrial city of chicago fire alarm station and/or call box door designed and fabricated by the gamewell fire alarm telegraph company. this type of call box was manufactured for the department of gas & electricity, chicago, il. the pediment features a deeply embossed fist gripping lighting bolts. the arch top hinged door retains the original pull-down door for accessing the hook. nicely distressed green and red paint finish left untouched. a fire alarm box is an outdoor device used for notifying a fire department of a fire. early boxes used the telegraph system and were the main method of calling the fire department to a neighborhood in the days before people had telephones. when the box is triggered, a spring-loaded wheel spins and taps out a signal onto the fire alarm telegraph wire, indicating the box number. the receiver at a fire station then can match the number to the neighborhood. the boxes are a form of street furniture still in service in many places, though many towns and cities have removed them due to cost of maintaining the obsolete system. the first practical fire alarm system utilizing the telegraph system was developed by dr. william channing and moses g. farmer 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. john f. kennard bought the patents from the government after they were seized after the civil war, returned them to gamewell, and formed a partnership, kennard and co., in 1867 to manufacture the alarm systems. the gamewell fire alarm telegraph co. was later formed in 1879. gamewell systems were installed in 250 cities by 1886 and 500 cities in 1890. by 1910, gamewell had gained a 95% market share. the listing is for the door only. measures 10 x 3 x 14 inches.