 As early as age four, he boarded his pony cart in the stables behind the house and rushed out to watch the volunteer firefighters of the city; watching their efforts shaped his future life.Later, as a student at Cornell, he stabled a horse outside his dorm room, so he could visit fires and watch the volunteer firemen in Ithaca, NY.After graduation from Cornell University, Hamilton S. White returned to Syracuse, developed the city's first public, mechanical and electric fire alarm systems, copied after Ithaca's mechanical system, and built his firehouse at the former 400 Genesee Street, close to the family house.