Strowger Switch Demonstration - Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum, Lincoln, NE . 7.12.18

Demonstration of the Strowger switch - an electromechanical stepping switch from the former Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Company telephone exchange system... as seen at the Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum on July 12th, 2018.

The Strowger switch was the first commercially successful direct-dial system over telephone, via rotary phone. It was an electromechanical system that was very high maintenance, due to frequent friction and its many moving parts... but nevertheless, it connected the world long before touchtone telephone and the internet. These exchanges were first introduced in the late 1890's and were last used all the way into the 1990's. Any Strowger switch today is a rarity.

This miniature telephone exchange system was a hands-on exhibit at the Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. The museum was incorporated in 1992 - opened to the public in 1994 and was run by a volunteer group from the former Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Company, former Alliant Communications, former Alltel Corporation & current Windstream employees. The museum was also seen in the movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey.

Unfortunately, with area where the museum sits being redeveloped and the museum - mainly relying on donations from the public to keep operating, could not afford to find a new home... nor would the telephone company that once supported it would help (or any other entities within the community). Sadly, it closed at the end of July 2018 - a truly hidden treasure now forever gone. This video was taken less than a month from the museum's closing.

More about the Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum and its closing here:

https://journalstar.com/news/local/th...

https://journalstar.com/news/local/hi...