Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum
12 Hancock Avenue
Saint Louis, Missouri  63125
(314) 416-8004
[email protected]
The Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum is housed in a beautifully restored 1896 building and features an extensive collection of telephones, telephone-related equipment and memorabilia.  The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is located in the 426-acre historic Jefferson Barracks Park, a 15 minute drive south of downtown St. Louis.
                                      
Employees and retirees from Southwestern Bell, SBC, AT&T, members of the Telecom Pioneers, a non-profit 501(c)(3) telephone company employee service organization, and their families and friends spent over 66,500 hours in repairing and renovating the building.   The museum welcomed its first visitors on May 4, 2016.

The self-guided, accessible history museum has many hands-on, educational and fun displays. 

Besides its extensive collection of telephones manufactured from the late 1800s through 2012, the Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum also contains:
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  • A working Central Office Step Switch.
  • Operator switchboards from the 1920s, 1940s and 1960s.
  • Hundreds of telephones from the late 1880s through the 2010s.
  • Hundreds of pieces of telephone-related memorabilia from the 1900s through the 2010s.
  • Military telephones from WWI through the Gulf War.
  • Hundreds of pieces of telephone-related equipment and tools.
  • A telephone pole complete with climbing equipment.
  • A large variety of novelty telephones.
  • A statue of Alexander Graham Bell and replicas of his 1876 Liquid Transmitter and 1877 First Commercial Telephone.

The museum is located all on one floor and there is a wheelchair entrance and ramp on the east side of the building.  Accessible parking and an accessible restroom is also available.  Chairs are also located throughout the museum in the event a short break is needed. 

Guided tours are available for groups of 10 or more and should be scheduled at least two weeks before the tour.