Working Telephone Switches Still Connect Calls in Seattle
Place calls through vintage equipment, then follow volunteer guides past switchboards and telegraph gear.
☎️ Follow the Dial Tone
Seattle still has a central office you can call through. At Connections Museum on East Marginal Way, volunteers run Panel and No. 1 Crossbar switches and guide you through the equipment between two handsets. You can place a call through the working system, following the route behind a dial tone.
The tour continues past switchboards, test desks, telegraph and teletype gear. Poles, cable and splicing tools take the story beyond the exchange. Wooden operator desks sit beneath banks of sockets, with telephones on their counters.
The opening window is Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm. A quick look takes an hour, while a technical visitor can spend three. Suggested donations are 10 dollars for adults and 5 dollars for youths aged 12 to 18. The collection began as the Herbert H. Warrick Jr. Museum of Communications and now runs under the Telecommunications History Group.
