campbell@redsox.bsw.com (Larry Campbell) (09/19/89)
Rushing in to the local New England Telephone building a few months ago to
pay my (typically late) bill, I stumbled across an interesting telephone
museum. It's in the New England Telephone building on Franklin Street in
Boston -- the city where, of course, the telephone was invented. The museum
is a replica of Alexander Graham Bell's garrett workshop where the famous
conversation ("Mr. Watson, come here" etc.) occurred.
Although the room itself is a replica -- the actual building was demolished
decades ago and the street it was on no longer even exists -- most of the
paraphernalia are real, including the workbench, some really odd looking
gizmos, and some notebooks. Also some of Bell's early commercial equipment,
which at the time was used mainly for burglar alarms.
It's not worth making a special trip to Boston, but if you're here anyway,
it's worth half an hour. You can't miss it -- it's just inside the main
entrance of the Franklin Street building (the art deco building festooned
with microwave horns).
Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc.
campbell@bsw.com 120 Fulton Street
wjh12!redsox!campbell Boston, MA 02146johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (09/20/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0389m07@vector.dallas.tx.us> you write: >Rushing in to the local New England Telephone building a few months ago to >pay my (typically late) bill, I stumbled across an interesting telephone >museum. It's in the New England Telephone building on Franklin Street in >Boston -- the city where, of course, the telephone was invented. ... When you're there, don't forget to make a pilgrimage to the Actual Spot where the phone was invented. It's in the sidewalk a block away in front of the JFK Federal Building. You can recognize it by the small granite pillar with a plaque on top and, of course, a pair of pay phones. There are other telephone historical spots around Boston. On Main Street in Cambridge is a building with a sign telling us that the first long-distance call happened there, between Cambridge and Boston. I presume in that context long-distance means between different exchanges. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl