Oxford to Get Second Iconic Red Phone Booth

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

An iconic British-style telephone booth sits outside Oxford City Hall. A second booth will be arriving in Oxford later this month. Photo by Jack Hall

Oxford’s red, iconic, British phone booth is a popular spot for visitors and residents to stop and take photos.

In a few weeks, a second phone booth will arrive in Oxford thanks to the donation of a family from North Carolina.

On Tuesday, the Oxford Board of Aldermen voted to approve the donation from the Skees family of Wilkesboro, N.C.

The phone booth looks almost exactly like the one adjacent to City Hall. The Aldermen voted to allow the Building and Grounds Department to spend up to $1,900 to pick up the phone booth from North Carolina and bring it to Oxford.

Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds Greg Pinion said Shiver’s Towing will be picking up the phone.

The family donating the phone requested that Oxford agrees to not keep the phone sitting in storage for a long amount of time and that a brass plate with the family’s name is placed on the phone booth that would read: Donated by Robert Skees, USAF, Col. Ret. and Aline Skees.

Unlike the phone booth by City Hall, the new booth does not include a payphone.

Mayor Robyn Tannehill said current plans for the phone booth will have it placed in a small courtyard near the new downtown parking garage.

The Skees family is requesting the phone be moved before August.

Oxford resident John Valentine originally purchased the red phone booth located at City Hall while serving as a U.S. Air Force colonel in Oxford, England. He had it shipped to Oxford and it was placed near City Hall in 1995.