Added on October 31, 2019  The News Wheel   , , , , , , , ,
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DC Turns Defunct Call Boxes Into Monuments

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Washington DC Police Officer using a call box in the early 1900s.
Photo: Library of Congress

Before cell phones, if something happened while you were on the go, from muggings to car accidents, it was hard to alert the authorities. Washington D.C. installed cast-iron call boxes along the street in the 1800s to make calling for police or firefighters easier. The phones are now defunct, but instead of letting the frames stay empty, one group is turning some into monuments.

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Artist Charles Bergen made cast-iron plaques to fit in eight of the empty call box frames. The artist told NPR station WAMU 88.5 that he wanted to pay tribute to the nation’s women because “In D.C., while there are lots of sculptures of men and allegorical sculptures of women, there are not many sculptures of actual, real women that you can put a name to.” The depictions of the women are in natural bronze, and then Bergen painted the old frames and poles in vibrant colors so they stand out. Some of the memorials also have bronze sculptures on top of the pole, where street signs used to reside.  

The call boxes Bergen selected for his art were the ones formerly used by the fire department.  They were red cabinets surrounded by glass that drivers and pedestrians would break and open to report a fire. Inside, there was a lever to pull that would telegraph to an operator that a box was activated and where it was.

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Other neighborhoods have used their call boxes for art installations, maps, or other public signage. Instead of serving just residents, Bergen’s sculptures are in tourist-heavy areas of the city, like the intersection of 14th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Mara Cherkasky, an urban historian with Prologue DC, and area youth interns helped Bergen choose eight women to profile and figure out how to portray their importance in bronze. Some of the women, like Alice Stokes Paul, have national significance, while others, like Josephine Dorothy Butler, are important to the D.C. metro area. Check out the list below to see the women selected for roadside monuments, as well as where their call boxes are.

  • Alice Stokes Paul (14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW)
  • Alma Woodsey Thomas (13th and G Street NW)
  • Katherine Graham (15th and L Street NW)
  • Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (Vermont and K Street NW)
  • Julia Ward Howe (14th and F Street NW)
  • Josephine Butler (14th and K Street NW)
  • Mary Church Terrell (14th and G Street NW)
  • Flora Rollins Molton (13th and G Street NW)

Next time you’re in the nation’s capital, consider paying respect to some of these fierce ladies.

News Source: NPR