Leon Logothesis claims Galesburg the 'Friendliest town in the World'.
by Carin Franey

On November 17th, Leon Logothesis, producer of ‘Amazing Adventures of a Nobody’ came to stay with us so he could hang out with Bob and reminisce over the original night he stayed with us almost three years ago.

Flashback three years ago:
Leon originally ended up in Galesburg as part of a documentary to travel across America on $5.00 a day. Leon ran into Bob’s mother leaving the public library from a Spoon River Creative Writers group meeting. Leon approached my mother-in-law (Prue) to ask if she could help him out. He explained what they were doing and Prue wanted to help out but could not give a strange man a ride and was late for an art class. She tried to offer him $20 so he could get something to eat. Then Leon told her he could not take money from anyone – he could only accept food, transportation or shelter from the kindness of others. So, this is when Prue decided to call her son. He was still upstairs in a writer’s group meeting. I answered the phone and Prue said she needed to talk to Bob because someone was out front and they needed some help. I handed the phone to Bob who said he would be right down to help them. When he got there he saw camera men, sound man and two guys, one with no hair. Once they started talking you could tell they were from Britain. Well Bob’s mom asked him if he could take Leon out to eat with the $20 dollars and Bob took Leon to Sirloin Stockade.
Meanwhile, Leon’s film crew and producer came up to talk to us during our writer’s group meeting. They wanted to know if there was anywhere Leon could stay for the night. Everyone was pretty reluctant to say anything, but one member said “He can go to the Salvation Army.” The film crew explained that Leon could not go somewhere that may be a spot for someone else who might need a room for the night. Everyone looked pretty uncomfortable. Needless to say no one volunteered for Leon to be a house guest in their home for that evening. I said to myself ‘he will be staying with us tonight. Bob will have a sense of responsibility towards him and feel that he has to take him in for the night. This could be a long night.’
I went home and was starting on supper when Bob called. He wanted to know if we could have a guest. Wow –how did I know? This could be a grand adventure or a disastrous journey, but how could I say no? Bob obviously felt comfortable with him, so I guess I should too. So, Leon spent the night on our couch in the family room downstairs. He was awakened by the camera crew shooting a scene in which they were giving him his $5.00 for the day. Then Bob brought Leon some Rendezvous clothes, told him to put them on because he was going to show Leon how to throw a tomahawk at a block, even though Leon still refers to it as throwing ‘axes at trees’. They battled it out to see who would buy breakfast. Luckily Leon scraped by, so Bob paid for breakfast. After breakfast, Bob took Leon around town asking for money towards a train ticket to Denver for Leon. The community response was overwhelming and Leon had the ticket a few hours later.

Back to the present:
Since this time, Leon has declared Galesburg as the friendliest town in the world. He was amazed by everyone’s generosity in this town and has stayed in touch with Bob through cell phones and emails. Last weekend, Leon had business in Chicago at the NBC Studio and he came down and spent some time with us again. We fixed up our hide abed, but he wanted to sleep on the same couch he slept in when he first came to Galesburg. Leon took us all out for dinner Monday night at Perkin’s. In the morning, after breakfast at Gray’s Sandwich Shop, he had an interview with local radio station WAAG 94.9 FM. He announced his reason why Galesburg is the friendliest place in the world: “because Bob decided he was going to try to raise enough money for me to get to Denver. So we went around the entire town and the people gave one dollar, two dollar – the firemen, the police, the insurance brokers, the car dealers and we raised the $110 to get me to Denver. Everyone was so friendly! A part from Bob and his whole family being friendly, the people in the town were just wonderful.”
Look for Leon in his third season of Amazing Adventures of a Nobody going from Paris to Moscow which is due to air in late January on Fox Reality channel. He is planning on shooting season four of Amazing Adventures of a Nobody in Asia.


Bob and Leon at the train station (photo by Carin Franey)


Below are some links to some more info on Leon:
Leon Legothetis’s personal stories
Register Mail interview

How was Galesburg created?
The City of Galesburg is unique in that it was a planned city, whose purpose was fostering religious education. George Washington Gale, a Presbyterian minister from New York State, founded Galesburg.  Gale dreamed of establishing a manual labor college, which became Knox College.  A committee from New York purchased 17 acres in Knox County in 1835, and the first 25 settlers arrived in 1836.  It was decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits.


(Pictured above is the Jacob Gum Cabin)

They built temporary cabins in Log City near what is now Lake Storey, north of Galesburg.  The Illinois State Legislature granted a charter o the college in 1837, but it was not until 1841 that it opened its doors to its first freshman class.  In 1857, Old Main was completed and has the distinction of being the only building still standing where a Lincoln-Douglas debate took place, which hosted the fifth and most famous of the debates held in 1858. Knox College continues to maintain and use Old Main to this day.  An Underground Railroad Museum and Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum are planned for Knox College's Alumni Hall after it is renovated.  

Presidents or men who became
President that visited Galesburg
•  President Lincoln
• President Taft  
• President McKinnley  
• President Truman  
• President Reagen (lived in Galesburg as a child)  
• President Clinton

Notable residents:
 
• Mary Ann Bickerdyke, also known as "Mother Bickerdyke," famous American Civil War nurse for the Union Army
• George Radcliffe Colton, Governor of Puerto Rico, 1909–1913
• Edwin H. Conger, congressman, diplomat, lawyer
• Ira Clifton Copley, publisher and statesman, founder of the Copley Press
• George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., inventor of the Ferris Wheel
• Aaron Fike and A. J. Fike, NASCAR drivers
• Todd Hamilton, professional golfer
• Phil Hare, congressman
• Tim Lawson, author
• Emily Arnold McCully, children's book author, winner of the 1993 Caldecott Medal
• Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States
• George Reeves, actor, played Superman in popular 1950s television show (brief residency in infancy)
• Paul W. Robsky, member of Eliot Ness' Untouchables, born in Galesburg, 1897
• Carl Sandburg, American poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist
• Jim Sundberg, Major League Baseball player
• Dorothea Tanning, American painter, printmaker, sculptor and writer
• Charles Rudolph Walgreen, founder of Walgreens
• Pete Weber, sports broadcaster
• Sewall Wright, evolutionary biologist, a founder of modern population genetics
• Samuel McClure, Owner & publisher McClure’s Magazine, The muckrakers