Existing comment:
Police Call Box
By 1885 Kalorama had been surveyed and platted. As the city expanded into this neighborhood -- slowly due to isolation from street car lines and high land values -- the need for police services followed. This original police call box depicts a footman on patrol calling the precinct house. Each call box connected directly to the precinct switch board. A light above that board showed the location of the call. The patrol officer reported hourly from one of the seven neighborhood boxes. A rule of the job was never to call twice from the same box, for that the told the sergeant that the beat was not being walked. These call boxes remained in use into the 1960s. |