Around Chicago, I’ve always heard it called a Buffalo (or B) box. And I’ve never seen or heard of a homeowner operating it.
Back when I was an irresponsible and clueless college student, missing utility payments, one morning I noticed a guy out on the front lawn turning this weird tool. Wondered what he was doing - until I went to turn on the tap… 
I agree that every house ought to have an internal shutoff valve, but I recall having to have at least 1 installed in a house I bought.
Yeah. Would be unusual for a typical homeowner. Back in ancient times I worked for and then created/owned a lawn sprinkler system company. Sometimes (rarely) you had to tie into the meter pit (after the meter of course). Pretty SOP, but truly sucked. Much better to tie in in a basement and go back out through the foundation. That’s how bad the meter pit sucked.
If I learned anything from those years, it’s plumbing.
This. Every house I’ve ever been in has a curb shut-off and an inside shut-off.
I had a pipe fitting fail, and water was gushing out of a pipe in the basement. Luckily, 1) I was home and heard the water gushing, and 2) I had recently put in a better shut-off valve in the basement, and it was just a couple of steps from the bottom of the stairs. If I’d had to grab the shut-off tool and run to the street, there would have been a lot more water to clean up.
I dunno. It seems easier to grab the tool (which is between the fireplace and the furnace) and to out to the street, than it does to have a valve installed under the house and have a hatch installed in the floor to get to it. I mean, the time difference would be like a minute.
In our case, the inside shutoff is in a corner of the basement, so accessible year round without any shenanigans with hatches or crawl spaces.
Clearly, YMMV. There’s no need to defend your setup, and we’ve presented everything you need to know about a completely standard setup that you just haven’t encountered in your life, and which needs no defense from your doubt.
In our home, and others I’ve lived in, there is a shutoff where the water enters the building as well as other shutoffs that allow working on one section of the waterline while still having water in the rest of the house.
Whatcha gonna do if a cement mixer is parked over that street valve?
In my case, a minute would have meant a lot more water. Like 30-50 more gallons on the basement floor.
And the shutoff would not necessarily have to be in your crawlspace. But, I agree with @gnoitall - if you’re good with your set up, that’s great. I am happy with mine, and I don’t have any desire to proselytize about it.
My sinks and toilets have shutoffs - that’s standard. (also, dishwasher) I don’t recall seeing any shut-offs for my shower or tubs - I assume that any work on those faucets requires turning off the whole house. (I think my hot-water tank has a valve on the feed too - never bothered to look)
My “curb” valve is a small metal plate embedded in my driveway concrete. (For some, it’s in the sidewalk or the lawn). I assume the square nut in the center (about 1" square) turns a rod that goes down below the frost line to the valve in the water pipe. I’ve never had to use it. There’s a valve also just before the water meter in the basement that’s the house shut-off.
I suppose if you have a crawlspace rather than a basement, a house shut-off would be less accessible than one directly in the basement - and any major leak would flood the crawlspace, rather than a nice basement, so there’s less urgency to have a simple easily-accessible valve for that rare contingency. (Unless you then have to crawl though mud to fix the problem)
Everyone’s set-up is different. Whatever works for you.