The Telephone Museum of Gridley
The museum is home to an impressive collection of antique telephones, from wooden wall-mounted magneto phones and solid wood candlestick phone booths, through solid wood candlestick booths with candlestick holders, to rotary dial telephones. In addition, it houses replica manual exchanges from small towns as well as replica manual exchanges from North America as well as one of North America’s largest libraries of telecommunications books, catalogs and technical publications.
Exhibits at Telecom World trace the history of communications from Samuel Morse’s invention of telegraphy through Alexander Graham Bell’s creation of telephone in 1876 which finally allowed people to transmit voice communications across long distances. Exhibitions feature audiovisual displays, background projections and songs about telephones from different periods.
This museum was the creation of a group of Norwesco Telephone Pioneer volunteers. Over time they amassed an extensive collection of telephones and equipment which they now display interactively as an exhibition, keeping visitors up-to-date on its history and evolution. Exhibitions provide a fun way to learn about telecom’s history as well as current practices.
