The Phonebooth is dedicated to preserving the history of the telephone network in the United States. Almost all of the information on this site is related to pre-divestiture of the Bell System in 1984. Content is designed to help visitors understand the technologies that were developed related to telecommunications during the Bell System's original lifetime.

This site also features a small collection of telephone advertisements including advertisements related to telephone booths and the Bell System. You can also find some general information about pay telephones, including several pictures of 3-slot coin collectors, single slot pay telephones, and coinless payphones. During its existence, the Bell System published a lot of information booklets and pamphlets related to telephone service and how it works. As time permits, some of these are being converted to be web-friendly and will be included.

As this site's name implies -- it has a focus on telephone booths. A section focuses on telephone booths that are still located in Iowa and other sections have telephone booth photos and news reports related to telephone booths. There is another section with "How to use the..." and "How to use your..." instruction manuals for Western Electric telephones and other equipment (including a fun to read manual about operating a cord switchboard).

There is a lot of material destined for this site, but it takes a significant amount of time to post most of it. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to send an email to webmaster@phonebooth.org or use the form on the Contact Us page.

Contact Information

Our postal address is PO Box 75, Bondurant, IA 50035.

We can be reached via email at webmaster@phonebooth.org.