Hamilton, OH

Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, 20 miles north of Cincinnati, that has a rather unique siren system.

Siren System History

In 1942, Hamilton had a Chrysler Victory-Bell Siren. Not much is known about this other than the fact that they had one at the time. In 1953, Hamilton purchased three sirens from H.O.R. Siren & Signal, one at the Municipal building (which was still in service until 2024, see below) and one at the Municipal garage/Public Works Building. Although it is unknown what the other two were, it is speculated that they were smaller H.O.R. sirens, likely Siro-Drones. Hamilton installed 7 5/6 port Federal Signal Thunderbolt 1000ATs in 1975, likely in response to the massive tornado outbreak in the area the previous year. Another unit was installed at the Public Works Building by Werden Electric in the 1990s, and originally came from Dublin, Ohio. All units purchased in 1975 were originally roof mounted, but 4 were moved to poles in the 1990s. The schools that the sirens once stood on were all torn down in 2010 due to a large school remodeling project that the city did.

These sirens were located at:

• Lincoln Elementary School: no video and hardly any photographic evidence of this unit when it was still installed exist. there is one image of the school it was mounted on that happened to capture the siren head in the photograph.
• Hamilton High School: no video or photographic evidence of when it was still installed. Google Maps did happen to capture it in 2010 Streetview, but it is little more than a yellow dot in the trees due to poor image quality.
• McKinley Elementary School
• Monroe Elementary School
• Hamilton Fire Company No.5
• Hamilton Fire Company No.7
• St. Ann Catholic School/Church
• Hamilton Public Works

The siren at St. Ann Catholic School was originally located on top of Taylor Elementary School, before being either moved or replaced by a new Thunderbolt.^{currently unconfirmed information} These sirens accompany a rare 7/10 port single-headed H.O.R. Super Sirex located near the middle of the city on the former municipal building. This is likely the last existing unit of this model. Unfortunately, this siren was taken out of service in 2024 due to operational issues.

Current System

Since then, 3 of the 8 Thunderbolts have been removed:

• Hamilton City Garage (Was removed due to renovations, indirectly replaced by a 508. Auctioned off via GovDeals to an unknown buyer in 2016.)
• Hamilton High School (School was renovated entirely in 2010, directly replaced by a 2001-130. Auctioned off via GovDeals to an unknown buyer in 2016.)
• Lincoln Elementary (School was demolished in 2010, no direct replacement, currently lies behind the Public Works Building)

All other sirens remain in place and are in working order.

In 2014, Hamilton added 3 Federal Signal 508-128s to the system. Due to an erroneous news report that stated the sirens were replacing the old system, many enthusiasts thought the old system would be replaced, rather than added to. However, in 2016 it was discovered that the city would only replace sirens as they died. Hamilton tests their sirens with the rest of Butler County, on the first Wednesday of every month at Noon, weather permitting.