0:00

Lincoln Illinois. Has

0:02

many claims to fame. One of them,

0:04

is even in its name. It's

0:07

the only town in the United States named after

0:09

Abraham Lincoln before

0:11

he became president. Like

0:13

here at our office is where he christened the

0:15

town of the watermelon. With a child was named after him,

0:17

believe they poured some

0:19

juice and seeds on the ground. And that was,

0:22

that was, that was named after. Now.

0:26

There's a two foot long steel watermelon

0:28

in town, that marks the occasion

0:30

i how could they not be and

0:32

, a lot of other sites to alice

0:35

wrote his the tourism director for

0:37

logan county than the ones i

0:39

just covered wagon the other have

0:41

a now museum on the tropics neon

0:43

sign that our says

0:46

that , of all of these there's

0:48

one spot in particular

0:51

that attracts maybe the most

0:53

questions from visitors not the

0:55

watermelon it's not the covered

0:57

wagon it's the phone booth

0:59

phone top of city hall

1:02

they're usually think as the head is a phone

1:04

booth i'm sitting all the kind of i'm

1:06

cautious about it because they don't know they're like is

1:08

that some made up thing

1:11

that we heard like someone's the out on our lady

1:13

that they opened the know it's there

1:18

I'm doing terrorists in. This is atlas

1:20

obscura a celebration of the world's

1:22

strange incredible and wondrous

1:24

places today. We're climbing

1:26

up onto the roof of City Hall in.

1:29

Lincoln, Illinois up there

1:31

alone. Phone booth, stand.

1:33

watch over the town we

1:35

will figure out what the heck

1:37

it is doing

1:50

everything is better electrified

1:53

like the guitar toothbrushes for

1:55

costs and honda has the widest range

1:57

of electrified vehicles on the markets including

1:59

the first ever

2:00

Tucson and Santa Fe plug-in hybrid.

2:02

EV you can use electric when you want

2:04

it for gas when you need it. It's

2:06

your journey evolve it be on the pump

2:08

in the 2022 Tucson for

2:10

Santa Fe plug-in hybrid, visit

2:12

your nearest Hyundai dealer or learn more on day,

2:14

usa.com call 562-314-4603

2:18

for complete detail.

2:20

Right

2:23

in the center downtown Lincoln. Illinois is

2:26

the city's stately Brick City

2:28

Hall. in what is unusual

2:31

about the city hall is it

2:33

looks like there's something sticking out of it right

2:35

they are perched on the roof

2:38

let me see every day is even

2:40

a founding fathers nowadays

2:42

anyway so to see one on top of a building

2:45

pretty funny alice wrote grew

2:47

up in lincoln and is now the director of tourism

2:50

for that county it's and logan county

2:52

black and silver and i needed the top

2:54

it says phone booth on it's very same

2:57

but you can if you're looking you can see it physicists

2:59

have at the very top and of on a flat part

3:02

of the roofs of is very noticeable as he

3:04

tennis think maybe part of the building the like

3:06

know

3:07

part of knowing that is as upon the today

3:10

the phone booth is a kind of roadside

3:12

attraction an oddity on

3:14

america's great frail of

3:16

oddities route sixty six but

3:19

once upon a time this

3:21

phone booth performed an essential

3:23

function you could even say

3:25

that the town's public safety hinged

3:27

on

3:32

look for that was a booth up on the roof there

3:34

was a watch station it was set up

3:36

during the cold war

3:38

volunteers would be set up there with binoculars

3:41

and a government issued booklet filled

3:43

with photos of planes at different altitudes

3:46

a volunteer with both the last and if

3:48

they spotted say a soviet

3:50

plane they were gonna russian side and

3:52

call headquarters this , be

3:55

cold war stuff this is nuclear

3:57

war avoidance nice fans

4:01

out there was a fair bit of downtime

4:03

between spotting soviet fighters

4:06

above link in illinois the

4:08

not down time for

4:10

that call it target practice

4:13

participation did come in for some criticism

4:15

when one summer day we bracketed

4:17

the wrong car stopped at a stoplight below

4:20

the water don't believe the

4:23

frontline troops and homeland security need a little

4:25

are in our every now and again to read

4:28

glanford lincoln community high school class

4:30

of nineteen fifty nine

4:33

the birds eye vantage point up on top

4:35

of the roof was also good for spotting

4:37

something else

4:41

severe storms which unlike soviet

4:43

airplanes do actually roll

4:45

through lincoln illinois when it comes to tornado

4:48

frequency illinois isn't the top

4:50

ten of all us states and

4:52

in the days before doppler radar and

4:54

weather satellites the very best tools

4:57

for tracking storms words the sophisticated

4:59

observation devices on either

5:02

side here knows the columbine

5:04

on your eyeballs

5:08

in the nineteen sixties lincoln

5:10

installed a phone booth on top of the roof

5:13

which , a little more shelter for

5:15

these whether water water

5:17

how the system would system at the first

5:19

signs of severe storm a firefighter

5:21

would be sent up to the roof to watch roof skies

5:24

the task usually fell on a newer

5:26

member on the department bonus

5:28

points if the were also unmarried if

5:34

some some danger involved the

5:36

firefighter would climb up the steep wouldn't steps

5:39

of the roof dirt into the phone booth

5:41

and then look for the telltale signs of

5:43

attorney swirling has

5:45

for

5:46

the bigger finding someone successful

5:48

i'm a concert fading a funnel see this

5:50

is the a funnel and a starting become

5:52

that a tornado could possibly

5:54

touchdown the

5:57

phone inside the phone booth had

5:59

a direct line

6:00

the police station which at the time was

6:02

also downstairs and city hall and then

6:05

they can call them report

6:06

going on in the to be needed to actually the

6:08

tornado sirens acres

6:11

no keep in mind that this group is

6:13

not that big it's only about four times

6:15

wider than the booth itself and there are

6:17

no railings and so as a

6:19

storm is coming in these

6:21

firefighters would be up there in their little

6:23

phone booth with the wind whipping

6:25

around them one ,

6:28

of the local paper the herald and review

6:30

review , that booth would be

6:32

swinging around and i remember

6:35

to remember framing of their hands very frightening

6:38

of their up there once and the storm with howling so

6:40

loud couldn't hear myself

6:45

that more unfortunate soul would

6:47

stick around until the very last

6:49

possible moment shouting updates into

6:51

the phone over the sound of the when

6:54

the phone booth doors rattling

6:56

maybe even a funnel cloud bearing

6:58

down on before

7:13

read britain or think on the on a threat

7:15

from hundred on top of that africa

7:17

and how are going to spot tornadoes and

7:20

severe weather elegant says i

7:22

didn't know days it seems ridiculous but

7:25

it works it works

7:31

and work he did all the

7:33

way until the nineteen eighties when the phone

7:36

with was finally replaced by a faster

7:38

and less dangerous method of whether spot they

7:41

don't even know the phone

7:43

with disconnected local officials

7:45

kept the phone booth in place in

7:47

eighty in eighty roof crews were directed

7:49

to work around the phone booth when repairing

7:52

leaks and well they are up there they

7:54

did a little work on the phone booth to but

7:56

in two thousand and for the roof started

7:59

leaking again this time right

8:01

under the booth and members

8:03

of the city council put forward put forward

8:06

common sense solution a the phone

8:08

booth doesn't work anymore disconnected let's

8:10

take it down the public

8:13

had other ideas one

8:15

alderman told the local paper the panda graph

8:18

i heard everything from it's been there since

8:20

there since a little girl to this is

8:22

a historic landmark and he added

8:26

i didn't know how important it was to

8:28

some people needless to say

8:31

the phone booth with not taken down but

8:33

was instead repainted and waterproof

8:35

and live to see another day

8:39

today the phone booth still stands

8:42

as a sentinel over the city of lincoln

8:44

waiting for clark kent to appear

8:47

or more likely for someone to come

8:49

along and make the joke that they always

8:52

they always always to alice road

8:54

when they see it

8:55

like okay you know i knew it hong kong

8:57

say boss is sorry a couple of

8:59

the here right now

9:03

you also cant go up there right now

9:05

theres no railings up there its pretty dangerous

9:08

luckily you can get a very clear view of the booth

9:10

from across the street want

9:12

give special thanks to alice wrote at

9:14

logan county tourism and tourism and to the helpful

9:17

website finding lincoln illinois dot com

9:19

created by historian d alice

9:23

on

9:25

the train do something give me one second

9:30

this , could

9:32

go very badly sauna

9:37

okay here we go i don't judge

9:39

me this is just that experiment were just gonna

9:41

see there's no need to keep it in the

9:43

episode a scan for

9:51

the to call me on my phone

9:53

the i get it another i'm brenda song you

9:55

you use do

10:00

call

10:02

me on my phone booth

10:06

the you do when you need them

10:10

why am i doing with

10:12

you used to bars okay

10:14

please ignore the oliver everything really up this

10:16

now it starts

10:18

our podcast is a co production of atlas

10:20

obscura and witnessed dogs this

10:23

, was produced by a man didn't

10:25

a gallon the production team includes

10:28

doug bollinger chris naca camille

10:30

family with writer or know sarah

10:33

women manolo morale is odorless

10:35

is gianna palmer tracy

10:38

samuelson john to lure peter

10:40

clowney our technical director is

10:43

casey holford holford this episode

10:45

was sound designed by amanda mcgowan

10:47

chris naca and mixed by loose

10:50

by if you want to learn more

10:52

be sure to visit atlas obscura dot com there's

10:54

a link in our link description and

10:57

our theme and and credit music is by sam

10:59

and i'm going through or wishing

11:02

all the wonder in the world in with

11:04

the next time

11:09

the witness dogs from stutter

11:20

how old is old san juan

11:22

puerto rico

11:24

funny you should ask is actually celebrating

11:26

it's five hundredth birthday party this

11:28

year as for the rest of the island

11:32

it's always a party you can cruise

11:34

at the root of the de la john the islands renown

11:36

to barbecue highway or kayak

11:38

the bioluminescent waters of law propaganda

11:41

tour the countless coffee plantations dotting

11:43

the central mountain region and of course

11:46

visit the oldest city in the united states

11:49

the old son plan your visit

11:51

at discover hit the recall dot