Dorchester Illustration no. 2448 Gamewell Fire Alarm
Advertisement in Fire Engineering magazine, April 1949, featuring a picture of eight-year-old Thomasina De Beneditto who pulled the fire box alarm when she observed a fire in a nearby factory in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
At the time the Gamewell Company was located in Newton. The Gamewell fire alarm was created by George Milliken who lived at 44 Virginia Street, Dorchester, from the 1880s to 1921. Milliken was renowned for his inventions. Among them were the Milliken Repeater and the Duplex System, both of which aided greatly in the development of the telegraph system. By 1867, Milliken had risen to the position of General Manager of the Boston Office of Western Union. During his tenure, he hired and oversaw the work of a young Thomas Edison as a telegraph operator. After many years of service, Milliken left Western Union and by 1885 had become the superintendent of Electrical Development and Manufacturing, a laboratory and factory on Congress Street. Three years later, Milliken was Superintendent at the Gamewell Aux. Fire Alarm Company on Pearl Street, where he stayed until his death in 1921.
So we have a Dorchester double: little Thomasina, who appeared in the ad, was a Dorchester resident, and the inventor of the alarm system had lived in Dorchester.