Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum

About us:

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.

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

Besides its extensive collection of telephones manufactured from the 1900s through 2000s, the Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum also contains:

-- A Central Office Step Switch.
-- Operator switchboards from the 1920s and 1960s.
-- Military telephones from WWI through the Gulf War.
-- Hundreds of pieces of telephone-related equipment and tools.
-- A telephone pole complete with climbing equipment.
-- Hundreds of pieces of telephone-related memorabilia from the 1880s through the 2000s.
-- 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.