At one time all cities had emergency fire boxes on major streetcorners. Someone in need of help would pull a lever in the box, which would send a coded signal to the dispatcher and fire station indicating the location. (Pulling the lever activated a clockwork in the box which propelled a tape with punchings to give it a code.)
Many cities have removed those boxes because they were expensive to maintain and obsolete in a day with universal home telephone service and cell phones. However, some cities have found them to be still useful and keep them in service. They have the advtg of being very reliable which cell phones are not, the person does not need to speak English, and give the exact location which might not be known.
An article in the NYT describes this. See: