Northern Kittitas County Historical Society (NKCHS)

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Cle Elum's Telephone Museum
221 East First Street in Cle Elum, WA
Open Daily, Memorial Day to Labor Day, Noon to 4:00
 

Model of Early Telephone Switchboard
 

Cle Elum's Old Switchboard
 
Watch How The Pieces Work While Making A Phone Call
 
Telephone Operator in Action
 
Old Mining Artifacts From The Area

Cle Elum was one of the last cities in the country to use a manual telephone switchboard.  In September of 1966, the Cle Elum Historical Telephone Museum was established when Pacific Northwest Bell deeded its building to the Society for a museum of telephone history.  It is now the oldest complete telephone museum west of the Mississippi, with displays covering the history of telephone technology from 1901 to 1970.

 

In addition to the telephone displays, the museum features a collection of coal mine artifacts which were donated by local miners, and a tribute to South Cle Elum native, Douglas Munro, the only U.S. Coast Guard Congressional Medal of Honor recipient in World War II.