The Museum of Communications
The Museum of Communications (orginally known as The Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation located in the Georgetown neighborhood. The address is 7000 East Marginal Way South, Seattle, Washington, 98108.
On the third floor, where the tours begin, we have a panel office, Step By Step, 1Xbar, 5XBar, radio, power, and several PBX's. These are all working switches.
There are many other displays in the crowed isles of the third floor and include working Picture Phones, WECO fans, telephones, tools and photographs of many of the Pacific Telephone, Pacific Northwest Bell and WECO employees who contributed to making your telephones work over the years.
Handicapped accessible.
What To Do Even retired employees get breaks (or should that be "especially retired employees get breaks"?) and the break area is the beginning of the tour route. The coffee is located here; coffee and a doughnut being the rate of "pay" for a volunteer - if you get there in time for a doughnut. But sometimes we have cookies to share with our visitors also.
Why Have A Telephone Equipment Museum?
The Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum, now known as the Museum of Communications, was begun over 15 years ago by some farsighted Telephone Pioneers who recognized that with advancing technology, telephone equipment history was being lost.
Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company, the local company before it became part of U S WEST, provided space in an equipment building and donated much of what is there today. AT&T and Western Electric also have donated historical equipment and documentation.
Our space is still located in the same working Qwest (now) equipment building though we have now incorporated as a non-profit group and are now known as the Museum of Communications. Until our change in status to non-profit we were sponsered by Washington Chapter 30, TelecomPioneers and are proud of our association with them. Hard working volunteers, most of them retired Pioneers, installed and now maintain the equipment in working order.
Anyone with an interest in telephone history or in learning how it all works is welcome to volunteer. Most volunteers are TelecomPioneers but we do have some who come just because they are interested.
If you would like to volunteer or donate items, please send a message to qwest541@qwest.net or call the museum on (206) 767-3012.
