Hartford’s Old Fire Alarm Bell Tower (1867-1921)

The image above (taken near the start of the twentieth century) shows the three-story Italianate-style office building erected in 1853 by the Hartford Life and Health Insurance Company at 39 Pearl Street in Hartford. In the 1860s, the building was taken over by the State Savings Bank. Right behind the building was a fire house at 43 Pearl Street, which by the time of this photo was used by the department’s Squad A. The fire house was built in the early 1860s and behind it was the tower that housed the city’s fire alarm bell. Installed in 1867, the nearly-9,000-pound bell was linked to a telegraphic alarm system that involved alarm boxes throughout the city. After the bell cracked in 1881, it was recast and reinstalled. The new bell continued in service until 1921. At that point, the State Savings Bank acquired the fire department property and replaced all of these structures with a new bank building that lasted until 1972. The large bell was taken out of service and was eventually donated to the Connecticut Historical Society (now the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History). You can learn more about Hartford’s Fire Alarm Bell in my latest Substack post: https://open.substack.com/pub/oldhartford/p/the-old-pearl-street-fire-alarm-bell?r=4j8x6h&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web