Posted: October 7, 2025 2:27 pm
October 5-11, 2025 is National Fire Safety Week. For the occasion, Amy Regan, Heritage Johnstown’s curator, takes us on a trip to the Pennsylvania National Fire Museum of Harrisburg to show a special piece of Johnstown’s history.
The Pennsylvania National Fire Museum, which is located in Harrisburg, features an incredible showing of our own history in a permanent exhibition of Johnstown’s Gamewell Fire Alarm System from the 1920s. Not only did this fantastic piece of history survive, it’s also operational! Visitors are able to pull the alarm and see how the system worked!
The Pennsylvania National Fire Museum relocated the system from Johnstown to Harrisburg. Richard Lenker, Electric One, spent a great amount of time to get this system working.
The system had alarm boxes along the streets all over the city. Heritage Johnstown’s collection still houses a fire box and an alarm from the Gamewell System. Our collection also houses firemen’s helmets ranging from 1867 to present day equipment.
The Gamewell System was first developed in the early 1850s, and by 1879 the Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company was formed. The system revolutionized fire safety in cities. Using telegraphy signals through boxes all around the city, signals were sent to fire stations. The signals were recorded by punching holes in ‘tape’ and alarms went off in the stations.
The fire box has two doors, an interior and an exterior. Operators needed a key to get into the interior, where the handle resides. Of course, the boxes varied in design over time and location as there were several models and adaptations to them.
Each box has a number — the box in Heritage Johnstown’s collection is number 413, while the box at The Pennsylvania National Fire Museum is number 31. When the handle inside the box was pulled, the box number would ring on the tape, and the primary and secondary lights of the system would ring. Each station had cards that could read what each alarm was, and had primary and secondary tapes to ensure the alarm was received. The tape created a permanent record with holes punched in it.
There were other parts to the system, such as a repeater that would send out box numbers, phone lines for calling individual firehouses, and more.
To see Johnstown’s Gamewell Fire Alarm System from the 1920’s in operation, visit The Pennsylvania National Fire Museum in Harrisburg! There are also some great examples of safety posters from Bethlehem Steel on display as well! Visit their website for more information! https://pnfm.org/. Thank you to Richard Lenker for showing me a piece of Johnstown’s history!
