Visits to Telephone Historical Centres offer visitors the chance to witness the development of communications technology over time. These museums preserve an extensive collection of early models and prototypes as well as advertisements, photographs, personal narratives and personal accounts which help us better comprehend their development within their broader context.
The museum boasts a working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switch, antique phones, switchboards, outside plant displays with poles and cable, cataloged telecommunications reference materials and more.
Visiting Hours
The Telephone Historical Centre is one of North America’s premier hands-on museums, providing visitors with an engaging museum experience. Situated in Edmonton, Alberta it features a wide variety of phone items dating back to early 1900s through today as well as interactive displays and a cataloged telecommunications reference library. Established by retired ED TEL employees in 1987 and opened for public access two years later at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre located central Edmonton.
The museum features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches, outdoor plant displays featuring poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools, antique telephones as well as crank wall phones, decorator phones and switchboards which tell a compelling tale of how communication technology has revolutionized human lives over time.
Admission
The Museum at Jefferson Barracks Park is housed in a beautifully restored 1896 telephone building and houses one of the world’s finest collections of telephones and related equipment. Operated entirely by volunteers from Southwestern Bell and AT&T as well as Telecom Pioneers (a non-profit 501(c)(3) employee service organization), it boasts one of the world’s best telephone collections and related equipment collections.
The museum features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches, antique telephones and switchboards, outdoor plant displays with poles, cables, splicing equipment tools and other communications devices, along with a cataloged telecommunications reference library. Knowledgeable docents – current or retired employees from the phone company who volunteer their time – offer their guidance through the museum to visitors.
Parking spaces are available both in a large public lot and nearby streets. Street parking is generally free; just make sure not to park in residential zones (look out for blue spaces that belong only to residents). If no lot is available, pay-to-park meters may also be found throughout the block.
Parking
This museum provides an intimate history of telecomms, featuring vintage equipment that would rival any James Bond flick. Furthermore, there is an organized library full of references on the subject for researchers.
Visitors to the Phone Museum can explore exhibits spanning more than a century of communications technology in Roseville and worldwide, from working central office step switches such as Panel and Crossbar electromechanical Step Switches, outside plant displays such as poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools as well as antique telephones, switchboards and various telephone related machines and artifacts to modern day phones with working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical Step Switches on display at both museums.
This accessible history museum is housed in a restored 1896 building that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, within Jefferson Barracks Park about 15 minutes south of St. Louis. With hands-on exhibits designed to spark children’s interest in engineering and history, Jefferson Barracks Park Museum makes for a fantastic family outing or school field trip destination.
Tours
Collections offer an insightful narrative about the technology that enabled breakthroughs in connectivity and emergency services. They preserve physical instruments like Alexander Graham Bell’s liquid transmitter from his attic workshop as well as historical documents like advertisements or personal narratives to give contemporary audiences greater context for understanding these devices’ operation over time.
Visit Telephone Historical Centre is an engaging experience. Offering both guided and self-guided tours led by knowledgeable docents who are current or former telephone workers themselves, their passion lies with preserving phone history through preservation and celebration of its past.
Visitors to the museum can explore everything from wooden wall phones and rotary dialers, to recreations of independent phone exchanges in small town America with glass insulators, poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools – even outside plant displays! It also houses one of the world’s largest collections of antique telephones and memorabilia!
