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The attacks on 9/11 were collectively the deadliest terrorist attack in history. For New York City, it was also the deadliest disaster in history (discounting pandemics like coronavirus, Spanish Flu, AIDS and cholera epidemics). The emergency phone number, 911, was flooded during 9/11 and on the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, we take a look at when 911 was started in New York and in the United States. In fact, one of the early incidents that is said to have pushed forward the concept of a centralized emergency number took place in New York City: the horrific murder of Kitty Genovese. In reality, the history goes back much further.
Back in the Victorian era before telephones were invented, fire and police call boxes were installed on the streets of New York City — an urban ephemera that still exists today in more modern forms. Before 1968, there was no centralized or unified emergency phone number in the United States, but a call for one had been growing for the last decades…
