2018.063.005 [Booth, Telephone]

Telephone booths were widely popular at the turn of the 20th century. In 1889, William Gray invented the first "public" phone which would later be called the telephone booth. By 1898, the first "prepay" booth was installed in Chicago. By 1902, 81,000 booths could be found across the United States. Most of the booths were made out of wood, like the one pictured, at this time. But, in the 1950s, they were replaced by glass telephone booths. For any use other than instructional resources, please check with the organization that owns this item regarding copyright restrictions.