FORMAN, N.D. (KFGO) – Since the 1940s, every day at noon, 6:00, and 9:00 p.m. the Forman water tower siren has sounded, signaling lunch, supper, and curfew, until this past summer. That’s when the southeastern North Dakota town’s residents started complaining they couldn’t hear the siren very well any more, that it sounded muffled. Town leaders also heard from folks around the country who are known as siren enthusiasts, in whose circles the Forman siren was well-known as the last-of-its-kind “Decot” siren to still be working in the United States. Many had made pilgrimages to see and hear the Forman siren in years past. They knew as soon as they heard audio recordings of it that the siren was starting to fail.
The town considered removing the siren and putting it in the Sargent County Museum but after learning about its unique standing among sirens, decided to fix it. The 500-pound siren was removed from the water tower in the fall and transported to Fargo, to Huber Electric Motor and Pump Repair, where it spent six weeks being restored and repainted.
“Complete rebuild,” said Donovan Hajek, Forman’s city superintendent. “We’ve got pictures of it torn down with a bird’s nest inside so the windings were broken. They added mesh wire so the birds can’t get back in it. Of course being close to the elevator we get all the bees’ wings and the chaff from the corn so the impeller itself had a lot of grime on it which affected the tone and the sound. But that’s all cleaned up now. It should be good for another 40 years.”
On Monday, Borsheim Crane Service of West Fargo came down to Forman to hoist the siren back into place on the town’s water tower. Hajek, who is also an electrician, climbed up to the siren’s platform to secure and wire it. A full test of the siren just after 10:30 a.m. showed it was again working as it should. A small crowd gathered to watch and listen, including a group of curious kids from Little Rockets Daycare across the street.
Justin Olson of Kalispell, Montana is the author of a book about Decot sirens. He’s been helping the town of Forman learn about its unique siren. He said the siren is named for a French-born blacksmith named Theodore Decot who originally invented his namesake siren in Wisconsin as a fire call tool, and a number of towns in the Midwest used them. When Decot died in 1940, the business was sold and moved to Minneapolis, where Forman’s siren was made during WWII.
“During a time when many towns were either retiring their sirens or buying new sirens, Forman decided to keep their old Decot siren going as long as they could,” Olson said. “Unfortunately the new whistles and curfews have been phased out over the years – a cross between towns growing into bigger cities and others that didn’t think it was necessary for a siren to tell the time anymore. Technically a lot of the purposes these sirens have been used for have been superseded by technology, but the sirens have enough historic value so it’s worth keeping them around, whether its for display or running…ideally running.”
Outgoing City Auditor Trish Pearson (May 1st marks her retirement day) said the siren’s complete restoration, including removal and reinstallation, cost about $6000, but the town received a grant from the Sargent County EMS for half of the repair amount.
Forman City Coordinator Sara Dux said Forman is celebrating the return of the siren with a Siren Days parade on May 13. The event will also be an appreciation of law enforcement and first responders who serve Forman and Sargent County. Dux said the “Parade of Sirens” will end at the Sargent County Museum, which recently had the roof of one of its buildings collapse under the weight of snow, and the event may also involve a fundraiser for the museum to help cover the cost of repairs.
