The Telephone Historical Centre is a hands-on museum that commemorates the history of wired telephone networks. The museum showcases working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches as well as outside plant displays of poles, cables, splicing equipment, tools and hundreds of antique telephones and switchboards plus an archived collection of related reference materials.
Group Tours
This museum, housed within Jefferson Barracks Park’s historical buildings, boasts an extensive collection of telephone equipment and memorabilia. Groups of 10 or more may schedule guided tours at a small fee; advance notification must be provided.
Working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches at the museum provide visitors with an engaging firsthand experience of telecom history, as do antique telephones and phone booths from throughout history. Other displays include manual operator switchboards, novelty phones and one of the world’s largest collections of telephone-related tools and equipment.
Come with a Museum educator on a 60-minute tour of our core exhibit galleries! Through objects and stories, explore how people from diverse groups experienced the Revolutionary era–Loyalists, Hessians, free and enslaved individuals of African descent as well as women at home and at war. Additionally, consider what words like liberty, equality and freedom meant then–and how these ideas continue to shape lives today.
Self-Guided Tours
Self-guided tours allow visitors to explore at their own pace. They may choose to linger over a delicious local lunch, take additional time admiring stunning views or set out an hour earlier than planned.
Self-guided tours typically include a map with prompts to help visitors navigate their surroundings, with these prompts depending on the nature of experience desired. They may be as specific or broad as necessary.
Self-guided tours have been an efficient and convenient method of leasing apartments during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving prospective renters an efficient way to tour homes without needing an agent present. Knock Tours has designed best practice guides to guide property managers and onsite teams on how best to prepare for self-guided home shows, enabling them to maximize team efficiency while creating a positive tour experience for prospects.
Birthday Parties
The Telephone Historical Centre is one of Edmonton’s favorite family attractions and Canada’s largest telephone museum. With interactive displays showing how communications technology has advanced since 1885, visitors will learn more than they ever could at this exhibit.
The museum opened on December 3, 1987 in Old Strathcona and relocated to its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in 2004. It is owned and managed by a foundation, with accreditation by Museums Alberta.
Birthday Parties in the Celebrations Room can accommodate groups of up to 40 guests, and admission includes admission for both the birthday child, all guests attending their party and their families, including any additional museum admission fees that may apply if your group exceeds 40 people. It is the Renter’s responsibility to adequately clean Celebrations as per Birthday Manager specifications; including paper, food or drink spilled onto tables/floor, balloons or any party favors/refreshments brought in from outside.
Special Events
The Telephone Historical Centre was established by retired ED TEL employees in Edmonton in 1987 to preserve telecom history and provide tours both group and self-guided of its collection, featuring telephones, switches, poles, wires and splicing equipment as well as educational programs. It offers both group tours as well as self-guided visits.
The museum collection boasts thousands of artifacts dating back over 2,600 years of human communication innovation, such as working electromechanical central-office switches such as Panel and Crossbar electromechanical switches; antique telephones; switchboards; outside plant displays with poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools as well as a cataloged technical library.
The Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum is housed in a stunningly restored 1896 building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Operated by Telecom Pioneers – an educational non-profit founded by Southwestern Bell/AT&T retirees and their families – this interactive museum provides hands-on exhibits that pique curiosity about engineering and history.
