Location: Northeast corner of intersection of Tenth and N Streets, NW
Style: Antique Fire
Condition: No missing parts
Subject of Plaque: What did we do before cell phones?
Draft Text:
Long before the era of smart phones -- and even before the era of house and pay phones -- emergency communications throughout Washington were conducted via call boxes like the ones you stand before right now. These call boxes were installed throughout the capital starting in the 1860s, and some were cast atop former gas street lamp bases.
Police call boxes were distinct in design from fire call boxes and were painted blue. The call box to your right is an example of a police call box. Fire call boxes were painted red and were either quite fanciful like the one you are looking at now or had a house-shaped call box on top of their bases.
Emergency call boxes began to become obsolete with the introduction of the 911 emergency call system in the 1970s, and the working electronic components were all removed by 1995, leaving the call boxes and bases behind. Yet the call boxes remained.
In 2012, historic preservation and commercial revitalization nonprofit Shaw Main Streets, Inc. engaged community artists to help transform these iron relics into artistic and informational points of interest throughout the neighborhood. For more information, visit www.shawmainstreets.org/callbox.
Image for vignette: Photo of a callbox in use? For example: http://www.shorpy.com/node/4601
Follow-Up:
Above image of current condition (06/2012)
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