PHOTOS: A sentinel of safety on York's streets since 1884, the city’s Gamewell fire alarm system is shutting down. It’s hard to imagine a 140-year-old communication system still in operation in an age where AI is taking over physical buttons via voice and short-lived, disposable appliances are the norm.
In the year the Gamewell system started watching over York, the cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty was laid and the Washington Monument was dedicated. Gamewell was responding to York fires less than 20 years after the American Civil War ended. The system has stood on city streets waiting to take the call through two world wars and an evolution of transportation systems from horses, electric trolleys to modern-day battery-electric vehicles.