Bronx - Photo #396

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Bronx Fire Alarm Telegraph Bureau Central Office The Bronx Fire Alarm Telegraph Bureau Central Office, 1129 East 180th Street in the West Farms section of the Bronx, close by the 180th Street station, built in 1923 and still in use by the Fire Department. It's where all the fire call-box and 911 fire calls in the Bronx are routed to. The original mechanical fire boxes were called telegraph boxes (they worked like a telegraph, sending a simple code denoting the location; see the Wikipedia article for details); the building keeps its original name for tradition's sake, but now I believe that much of the communication is wireless; I assume the huge antenna is there for a purpose! (Click image at right to enlarge.)