Marion Noon-Day Whistle Now A Tradition

What are the origins of the whistle that blows every day at noon in Marion, Va.? I recently moved back to the area and the whistle reminds me of my childhood.

[Ken H]

There actually used to be two noon whistles - the one you hear today, which comes from the state hospital, and the one at Town Hall, which was used to alert the volunteer fire department. The state hospital one was, according to my dad, used to alert the community if and when a patient were to escape the asylum - again, according to my dad.

Both whistles were sounded at high noon as a test of the system, I understand.

The Town has recently completed work on repairing the municipal siren. Now, the fire department is alerted with pagers, but the siren could be used for townwide emergencies, like flash floods, etc.

[Ken H]

There's an article in Monday's Bristol Herald Courier about the whistle. It confirms that, years ago, it was a warning for an escaped patient. But it also served as a fire alarm (length and number of whistles indicated building on fire), and also lunchtime for the staff and patients who were working on the grounds.

The Marion Fire Whistle also had a code to tell the firemen which side of town the call was on. Firemen (back then, there weren't any female members of the department) would either go into the house to turn on the giant "fire box" to hear the alert, or jump in their cars and tune the radio to a local station to hear the announcer tell the audience "This is a Marion Fire Call. Is this a fire loss of yours? The location of the call after this -(insert short advertising sponsor message)- Now, the location of the fire ..."

Another bit of trivia - the red globe that hangs on the Anderson Building, across from the Smyth County Courthouse, was on of Marion's early alert systems. The police department and fire department were headquarted in the house next to Town Hall, and when a call came in, the dispatcher would illuminate the red globe so that any policeman from the bottom of Main Street to Hospital Hill could see it and come into the station for the call. The Fire Department now owns the building (upstairs used to be the Wagon Wheel - another Marion tradition!) and uses the rental income to help support the department.

[U might say]

Cool, I am assuming the Hospital whistle still blows?

[Ken H]

Yes - every weekday at 12 noon sharp. And the Town has repaired the one at Town Hall for emergency notifications, too. Seems to be a trend across the country.

[U might say]

I can remember when i was younger and was learning about possible nuclear holocaust and everytime i heard that whistle I was just a little worried haha

[Ken H]

Yep - my dad was a Civil Defense instructor, so we had all the films about "The Big One". Remember "Duck and Cover"?