Did you know that the world’s smallest police station is located on the Forgotten Coast, in the town of Carrabelle?
According to the Carrabelle Police Department’s website, the World’s Smallest Police Station came into being on March 10, 1963. The city had been having problems with tourists making unauthorized long distance phone calls on its police phone and with the policeman getting drenched when answering calls in the rain. So when the telephone company decided to replace its worn out phone booth in front of Burda’s Pharmacy with a new one, both problems were solved at once by putting the police phone in the old booth.
The old booth was moved to its current location, and while it did protect the officers from the elements, some people still snuck into it and made long distance calls. Eventually the dial was removed from the phone, making it impossible for tourists to make calls.
It has been featured on television shows “Real People”, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”, “The Today Show”, “Johnny Carson”. Life has not always been easy for the St. Joseph Telephone and Telegraph Company phone booth since its retirement. Vandals have ripped phones out of the booth and shot holes through the glass. It has been knocked over by a pickup truck and another time by Hurricane Kate. A tourist once asked a gas station attendant to help him load it into his vehicle so he could take it back to Tennessee.
The original is now on display in the hallway of the current department between the World War II Museum, and the Police department.