6-15-2024
by Pete Zizka
Last week we began talking about the police department’s need for a “signal system”. The subject had been first brought up in 1914 and had been tossed around by the aldermen/common council for several years. In 1917, another “push” was attempted but again nothing was done. A city official was reported to have said,” it is getting tedious to have the electors each year appropriate money for a system and then have the aldermen ignore the matter”. Finally, though, in February, 1921, it appeared that the system would finally become a reality. At a meeting of the city’s aldermen, one spoke up and said, “We have one of the best police departments in the country for a city the size of Willimantic. They do their work well and I believe that the city should help our guardians with some of the present up-to-date appliances, particularly when help is needed in making arrests”. (The aldermen and common council had again been discussing the installation of the Gamewell police signal system.) Another alderman said that while the chief was attending to other matters (at the police station) it was impossible to reach the chief or any other officers. If boxes were installed, the chief could get in touch with officers at any time and beat officers could call the station. Another feature would be that if someone phoned the police station and no one answered, the operator could switch the call to a signal box, “and prompt action could be taken”. Finally, a resolution was adopted, “That the Police Committee install a Gamewell Police signal box equipped with colored light and telephone opposite the traffic officer’s stand on Main Street”. A few changes were made to the resolution. It was decided to use the signal system of the Western Electric Company rather than the Gamewell system but finally in the second week of April, 1921, the Southern New England Telephone Company installed the first “patrolmen’s box” on the corner of Main and Railroad Streets. It was connected, “by a private wire to the telephone exchange. An “arm” placed above on the telephone pole and projecting over the street had a red light attached to it. The light, “would work in connection with calls from the police station”. Telephone company workers and electricians felt that the system would be operational before the end of April. (Interestingly, it was SNET’s placing of telephones in the city’s business district in 1917 that added to the police department’s difficulties. Five cents had to be paid in order to place a call and so if a patrolman needed to reach headquarters by phone, “he steps into a store to call the officer at the station house (but) he must deposit his five cents before he can get police headquarters”.) By today’s standards of instant communication, the system may sound complicated but in 1921 it was a godsend. “When Chief Killourey wishes to get in touch with the day or traffic officer on Main Street, he calls up the local telephone exchange. The operator answers by ringing up the connection with the “patrolmen’s box”, lighting the red light. In the case that there was no immediate response to a call from the police station, the operator would then ring a “gong” that was inside the box. The common council decided that, “if the box works satisfactorily, three or four more boxes will be installed. So, after eight years of delay, the police department had the beginnings of a signal system. Several articles in both “The Courant” and “The Chronicle” had championed the idea for years and had decried the city council’s lack of action. In my research, I could not find any information on just how many boxes were eventually installed but perhaps any reader who lived in Willimantic in the 1950s may, like me, remember seeing some of them. By the 1950s, the box locations could easily be identified from a distance because the arm to which the signal light was attached, stretched out over the street. The signal light had four faces and amber colored lenses. I remember there being one on the corner of Valley and Church Streets and the corner of Valley and Jackson Streets. I found 3 other locations by looking at old photos. One was at Ash and Main Streets. The other two (see today’s photo) were on Main Street at the city’s west end and at the corner or Railroad and Main Streets.
