Museum Showcases Growth of Company, Security Industry

In a nod to ADEMCO’s past, Honeywell opened the new ADEMCO Alarm Museum at its Melville, N.Y., location, home of Honeywell Security and Communications. The museum is a time capsule of ADEMCO’s journey from its founding in 1929 to where it is today following its acquisition by Honeywell, and a reflection of the evolution of the security industry. The switches, photos, price lists, and more lining the shelves all trace the development of alarm systems from 1929 until now.

The museum’s opening ceremony and dedication were conducted after a tour of the Melville facility for the media and the First Alert Professional President’s Council members.

Leo Guthart, former chairman of ADEMCO Security Group and vice chairman of Pittway, attended the event. He said that the museum “memorializes this company [ADEMCO], which effectively memorializes the entire security industry in this country. You can see the development of the company’s product line and paralleling that is the growth of the industry itself, which has been enormous.”

Ron Rothman, president of Honeywell Security and Communications, which purchased ADEMCO in 2000, agreed.

“Technology is always changing,” Rothman said. “The development of the security industry that is represented in the museum shows that.”

For many of the attendees, the event was a flashback in time.

“I got into the business in 1970, and unfortunately I recognize a lot of those antiques in that room,” Mike Shaw, CEO of Interface Security Systems, Earth City, Mo., and First Alert Professional President’s Council member, said as he smiled. “Those products were the best they had back in those days.”

Joe Nuccio, president and CEO of ASG Security, Beltsville, Md., agreed. “When you look at the museum, you remember all those relics and all the installations you used them in,” he said.

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Many of the pieces at the museum were donated by Ralph Sevinor, president of Wayne Alarm Systems, Lynn, Mass.

“Ralph’s love of the technology, history and his dedication to this industry is one of the reasons why the museum has so many interesting and rare pieces,” said Ralph Maniscalco, director of marketing and communications at Honeywell.

According to Maniscalco, many Honeywell employees also provided “some ‘one-of-a-kind’ pieces, prototypes and other interesting artifacts” in addition to Sevinor’s donations, adding to the scope of the museum.

“To fully appreciate where you are and where you are headed, it’s always important to look back at where you came from,” said Rothman. The new ADEMCO museum does just that, providing an in-depth look at the history of ADEMCO, and in the process, the security industry. For information, visit www.honeywell.com.