Off Route 1A in north Ellsworth lies a barn-turned museum dedicated to telephones and telecommunications equipment. Ranging from replicas of Alexander Graham Bell’s original phone to videophones, the exhibit covers every aspect of telecommunications industry.
Displays at this museum feature wooden wall phones, rotary dial phones and candlestick phones; several manual switchboards; antique line insulators as well as several antique switchboards – making for a truly engaging hands-on experience that all ages can appreciate.
The History of the Telephone
History of the telephone is a captivating tale, from its inception as laboratory experiment to becoming a household fixture, it stands as an extraordinary testament to both Alexander Graham Bell’s brilliance as an engineer and to entrepreneurs like him who saw their potential and supported their ideas.
The museum houses an impressive array of artifacts ranging from old telephone sets and vintage switchboards, antique line insulators, and other phone-related equipment. Established by retired employees from Edmonton Telephone Exchange Ltd., tours can be taken both individually or as groups.
This exhibit showcases how telephone technology has advanced to improve people’s lives, with special acknowledgement of Sarah “Sally” Rooke, an operator who used her telephone line to alert others of an impending flood in her small town.
Early Telephones
2. Early Telephones
Explore the history and development of this incredible invention as you walk past exhibit cases featuring early phones ranging from Alexander Graham Bell’s basic box-shaped device to more contemporary models. Although Antonio Meucci and Phillip Reis also invented similar devices, Bell’s was the first practical telephone that enabled people to communicate directly.
Early telephones were powered by local batteries that required frequent recharge by outside plant staff. Later phones could access power from a central office using the same wires that carried voice signals.
Candlestick phones were introduced, using carbon transmitters and electromagnetic receivers combined in one single cradle that, when not being used, was suspended from a base unit holder.
Modern Telephones
Modern phones – both landline and mobile phones – allow us to reach people living far away through communication networks that utilize a unique number system for each phone in its global telecommunication network.
Sound-powered telephones do not rely on electrical power, making them suitable for safety communications in places like airports, railways and public utilities; ski slopes; shipyards. Furthermore, these phones can also be found in industrial environments where fire or explosion could potentially harm electrical systems, including oil & gas facilities, arsenals or mines.
The museum houses an extensive library with classic texts on telephone history and technology, available to be perused by visitors and used for research projects or as sources of insight about early telephone industry operations. These one-of-a-kind publications can serve as great research material.
Switchboards
The museum provides visitors with a hands-on experience. Visitors can test crank phones and interact with a complex panel switchboard with plug in jacks connecting different telephone lines. Visitors also learn about New Mexico’s telecom history via antique line insulators and old office telephone computer machines; many volunteers who once worked at ED TEL are present, giving years of knowledge in just an hour!
Early phone systems required people to make long-distance calls through a central switchboard operator who could overhear their conversations in private. Switchboard operators were typically women known for their discretion and courtesy, typically women themselves. As technological progress occurred, cord switchboards gradually gave way to automated TSPS operator consoles which replaced these traditional methods of operation.
Electronics
The museum features an impressive collection of wooden and metal phones, early switchboards and novelty items made of wood or metal – including working models of Edmonton’s first import phone from China, classic rotary dial phones and Thomas Watson’s humper telephone – alongside knowledgeable volunteers – former employees from ED TEL themselves – that can assist visitors through its many interesting collections.
Visitors can experience manual cord boards, step-by-step private automatic branch exchanges, crossbar electromechanical central office type switching systems and inter-connected telephones – an interactive collection!
ED TEL Telephone Museum is one of Edmonton’s top attractions and accredited by Museums Alberta; open to both children and adults alike, it makes a fantastic educational resource.