The world of interpersonal communications began a major revolution in 1876 when inventor Alexander Graham Bell filed for a patent on the telephone, beating inventor Elisha Gray by a matter of hours. Commercial telephone service in the United States began the following year.
Shown above is a display in the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana.
In 1878, the first commercial telephone exchange was established in New Haven, Connecticut in which multiple telephone subscribers could connect via an operator for a monthly fee. At the end of the first month, there were 50 customers. The following year the idea of assigning the telephone customers a number emerged in which callers would ask the operator to connect with a certain number rather than giving her (operators were always women) a name.
Shown above is a telephone switchboard on display in the Franklin County Historical Society and Museum, Pasco, Washington.
Shown above is a switchboard on display in the East Benton County Museum in Kennewick, Washington.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company was created in 1885 to operate the long distance telephone network. The number of independent telephone companies increased dramatically after the original telephone patents expired in 1893.
The telephone exchange may have had some corruption problems as some business owners felt that unscrupulous operators were transferring calls to their competitors. In 1891, a Kansas City undertaker invented the first automatic dialing system to overcome this perceived problem and to get rid of operators.
In the beginning, telephones were installed primarily in business and thus, places like the general store became the place where people would go to place phone calls. In order to make money from this public use of telephones, coin operated telephones were developed and, for privacy in making calls, the phone booth was created.
Many homes did not have telephones and so the general store often had a phone that customers could use. This was on display in the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro, Oregon.
Shown above is an early crank-style phone on display in the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum in Tillamook, Oregon.
Shown above is another crank-style phone on display in the Northern Pacific Depot Museum in Wallace, Idaho.
Shown above is another crank-style phone on display in the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana.
The unusual structure shown above is a telephone booth which held a pay telephone. Once common, both telephone booths and pay telephones are now rather rare.
According to the display in the Heritage Station Museum in Pendleton, Oregon:
“The first public coin telephone was installed in 1889 in a bank in Hartford, Connecticut. Coins were deposited with an attendant after the call was made. The early telephone booths were constructed of durable hardwood. They were often carpeted and included windows with screens and a ventilator.
In 1905 the first outdoor coin telephone was installed in Cincinnati, Ohio. It wasn’t an instant hit as people were reluctant to make private calls on a public thoroughfare. Glass outdoor telephone booths began to replace wooden booths in the 1950s.”
Today, many people have never placed a call through an operator, or used a rotary dial phone, or heard a phone actually ring using bells, or used a pay phone or a phone booth.
Shown below are some of the phones displayed in museums.
Northern Pacific Depot Museum, Wallace, Idaho
Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula, Montana
Shown above is a Kellogg Portable Railway Phone.
East Benton County Museum, Kennewick, Washington
Shown above is a detail of the switch board.
Shown above is an early crank-style phone with an exposed bell. Turning the crank would ring the operator who would then connect the party.
Shown above are dial phones.
Heritage Station Museum, Pendleton, Oregon
According to the display:
“From the beginning, telephone operator work was almost exclusively a female job. Operators helped customers make long distance calls, provided information and made sure the system worked smoothly.
In the early days of the telephone, it was common to refer to these workers as ‘hello girls.’ Operators manually connected calls using cable with plugs at each end. However, as the telephone became more popular, manual switching became impractical and was eventually replaced with automatic electromechanical switching devices.”
Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum Hood River, Oregon
San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, California
Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro, Oregon
Dumas Brothel Museum, Butte, Montana
Klager House, Woodland, Washington
This Victorian farmhouse in Woodland, Washington was built in 1889 and is now a National Historic Site.
Shown above is an old crank telephone (landline).
Heritage Museum, Libby, Montana
Historical Society Museum, Poulsbro, Washington
Museums 201
This series looks at similar exhibits in several museums. More from this series:
Museums 201: Typewriters (photo diary)
Museums 201: Medicines (photo diary)
Museums 201: Military beds, hotel beds, brothel beds (photo diary)
Museums 201: The caboose (photo diary)
Museums 201: Bathrooms (photo diary)
Museums 201: Railway offices (photo diary)
Museums 201: Cash Registers (photo diary)
Museums 201: Hats (photo diary)