Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:27 pm
I remember all of the old T-Bolts, SD-10's and 2T22's that used to be in St. Louis County's old Civil Defense siren system. I don't recall any Federal Model 2's, but I do know that there were at least three Model 5's (or 7's?). One was in Berkeley at the old Berkeley High School at Airport Road and I-170; a red one was located on top of the old Veterans Administration Hospital in Jefferson Barracks in south St. Louis County; and the other one was mounted on the roof of the old Olivette municipal building on Olive Blvd.
The only Federal STH-10's that I know of in St. Louis County (there are 2) are located in Chesterfield, both at the county water works buildings. I'm curious to know if these are leftovers from the old county CD system or if they're owned and operated by Missouri-American Water Company or what the deal is. They were there long before Missouri-American Water took over St. Louis County Water Company. What's strange is that they're both activated along with the new system of Whelen 2900-series sirens. Why are these the only two old sirens left and they're still operating???
I think the "608's" that you're referring to were actually Federal EOWS-612's. I only saw three of these. One was next to Brentwood City Hall on Brentwood Blvd., one on Pohlman Road and Derhake Road in Florissant, and the other was located next to the Creve Coeur municipal building on North New Ballas Road. There may have been a few more but these were the only ones that I ever saw.
The only STL-10 located in St. Louis County was at the Crestwood Fire Department fire station on Sappington Road. It sat on top of the hose tower roof and was replaced by a pole-mounted Whelen 4003 out front of the Crestwood City Hall (which the fire station is attached to). A few years later the 4003 was replaced by a Whelen 2910, in the same spot as the 4003. That STL-10 had been installed in the 1950's at Crestwood's old fire station, as I've seen a picture of it.
Along with the Whelen 3016's, there were several Whelen 2000-R's installed in 1982 as well, though the 3016's outnumbered the 2000-R's.
Webster Groves had a system of Federal SD-10's. Supposedly they had nine of those. I only saw two of them: One was located at Murdoch Avenue and Big Bend Blvd., and the other was along Old Watson Road just east of Elm Avenue.
There was an SD-10 on North Lindbergh Blvd. just south of Olive Blvd. in the Creve Coeur area. A 2T22 was located on Creve Coeur Mill Road just west of Prichard Farm Road in the Maryland Heights area. I believe these two sirens were part of St. Louis County's CD system and not municipal-owned.
Also, there were two ACA Allertronic AL-6000-R's in the system that I know of. One had replaced a T-Bolt 1000 at Ross Road and Fee Fee Road in the Maryland Heights area, and the other replaced a T-Bolt 1000 at the old Bernard Elementary School on Forder Road in south St. Louis County. These were installed around 1989/1990. I find it interesting that with all the Whelens and Federals in the system at the time that St. Louis County decided to throw a few ACA's into the mix. (The ACA at Bernard School was replaced a few years later by a Whelen 4003, and now there's a Whelen 2910 in the 4003's place).
Around 1979 St. Louis County switched from "CD", or Civil Defense, to "CP", or Civil Preparedness. The symbol was the same as the old CD symbol, just that the "D" was replaced by a "P". Several of St. Louis County's new Whelen sirens installed in 1982 had the "CP" decal on their cabinets.
metalstorm, where did you find the information that St. Louis County first used the sirens for the Tornado Warning in January 1967? I've often wondered if they'd been activated for that. My wife grew up in Maryland Heights and was almost 4 years old when that tornado hit. Her family lived just a few blocks away from where it plowed through that part of the county. My mother-in-law remembers how bad the storm was and of them hunkering down in the basement.
Last edited by
FedTB on Tue Aug 28, 2018 2:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.