Off the Bricks

The 1852 Hunt · STOP 12 · Financial District / Greenway

Twice in six years, 911 went down, and the street boxes were the backup.

Twice in six years, 911 went down in Massachusetts. In December 2018 a North End resident who couldn't get through ran outside and pulled a street fire alarm box, and the trucks came anyway. In 2024 Boston Fire told the whole city to do the same. The boxes run on their own wires. There's one by the Greenway, at the foot of the Congress Street bridge.

This is stop 12 of The 1852 Hunt. Walk it free in the app.

The plate

When 911 Went Down

Collected on site

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Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Corner of Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street, by the Greenway
Directions

1

WBUR put the 2018 outage at a 'Louisiana telecomm giant.' A neighbor on Endicott Street said he'd been told for twenty years that the boxes don't work: 'There's no way it works.'

More footnotes on the story card, in the app.

Fire alarm box, Works after dark

In these collections: After Dark

Near South Station · Near Downtown Crossing

Sources (9)