On ebay
hereThanks to Bob Leafe.
Information From the Firefighters Museum, Minneapolis:
Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Station after 1879 Fire Alarm Boxes produced by Gamewell after the company reorganization in 1879, and purchased by the twin cities, were smaller and somewhat different in appearance with improvements to the operating mechanism. Still sporting the “cottage style” outer shell, their dimensions now measure 16-3/4” high, 10-1/2” wide, and 5” deep. Cast into the peak above the door is the new Gamewell trademark of a ‘hand grasping lightning bolts’. The cast inscription on the outer door reads: “Fire Alarm Telegraph Station, The Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company, New York".
John Nelson Gamewell was born in Camden, South Carolina, in 1822
and died at Hackensack, New Jersey, on July 19, 1896. He saw the Channing and Farmer fire alarm system, recognized its value, and in 1855 purchased the rights to construct the fire alarm in the southern and western states. In 1859 he purchased all of the patents and launched his career in the Fire Alarm Telegraph field devoting his entire business life to its introduction and improvement.
His business venture was cut short from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War. As a southerner, Gamewell had returned to South Carolina and the U.S. Government confiscated all his patents on the Fire Alarm Telegraph system and proceeded to sell them at public auction. An employee, John Kennard of Boston, went to Washington prepared to pay $20,000 for the patents. He bought them for the meager sum of $80.00 and returned them to Gamewell after the war. Shortly after the wars’ end, Gamewell again actively pursued the business under the name “American Fire Alarm Telegraph, John N. Gamewell & Company, Proprietor”.
In 1879, John Gamewell reorganized his company under the new name of “Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company”, made significant changes in the size and appearance of the fire alarm box and made improvements in its signaling mechanisms. The “American Fire Alarm Telegraph” era came to an end but under the reorganization, the name “Gamewell” would become synonymous with Fire Alarm Telegraph.