Shaw’s Historic Fire and Police Call Boxes: Call Box 3

Location: Northeast corner of intersection of Eighth and N Streets, NW
Style: Modern Fire
Condition: Top half missing; Bottom half in tact -- no missing access panel
Subject of Plaque: Monsignor Mundell, the Shepard of Shaw
Draft Title: Who was the "Shepherd of Shaw"?
Draft Text: Reverend Monsignor J. Joshua Mundell was pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church from 1964 to 2001. He was widely known and praised by his peers, parishioners and other D.C. residents for his devotion to the poor and needy. His commitment to the parish school, which he reopened in 1964, and the building of Immaculate Conception Apartments won him the title of the "Shepherd of Shaw." Father Mundell befriended men and women of every religious affiliation and sought to make them always at home in the Catholic Church. He attended Georgetown University and Mount Saint Mary's Seminary and was award each school's highest honors. He served in the United States National Guard as Chaplain, retiring with the rank of Major.

Source for Text: http://www.immaculateconceptionchurchdc.org/history_pastors.php
Image for vignette: Monsignor Mundell (source - Immaculate Conception Church?)
Follow-up: Determine/Obtain Image; contact DDOT for spare modern fire top

Image of current condition (06/2012)

Project Overview

The Shaw Main Streets Design Committee intends to repurpose thirteen historic police and fire callboxes throughout the neighborhood. The cast iron relics, many over century old, will each be transformed into beautiful historical markers, providing information about the surrounding area and each receiving an artistic overhaul.

The call boxes, some of which were originally the bases for gas streetlights, facilitated calling for assistance in the days before cellphones. The boxes covered by the project are located at 10th and N, 8th and N, 6th and N, 7th and P, 6th and R, 6th and S, 9th and S, 8th and T, 7th and Rhode Island, 8th and Q, 9th and Rhode Island, and 10th and Rhode Island. All are in various states of disrepair – some are mostly intact, some are missing parts and some are missing altogether.

Upon completion of the transformations, the callboxes will be another interesting draw to the neighborhood. Maps will be available at local businesses for self-guided tours, a website will be set up to help with their promotion, and local youth will be trained for providing tours of the call boxes.

If you are interested in taking a substantive, leading role in the project, please rsvp to shawcallbox@gmail.com.

Shaw’s Historic Fire and Police Call Boxes

Call Box 3 - 8th and N

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