Connections Museum - Museum in Seattle - 7000 E Marginal Way S, USA

This is a super neat hidden gem! I went here once in a date, and once with my boys. It was tough to keep an eye on my eight year old to keep him from breaking an antique phone! I want to visit once more just by myself so I can take my time looking at all the exhibits. This is worth a visit. The docents are all very knowledgeable and passionate! The guided tour was amazing.

Amazing place to know more about how the telephone switching happened back in the days, guides explained to us about everything and how it works.

If I could give this place 100 stars, I would. What these amazing volunteers have achieved in this space is nothing short of incredible. The effort and dedication it took to get their ancient phone systems working boggles the mind. If you’ve got even the remotest interest in telephones, communications, or other electronics you owe it to yourself to come see this place. As you’ll see on their website, they’ve got the only examples of some of the earliest automated telephone switching systems left on Earth, and they WORK. One of their guides walked us through the museum, and the tour was in development order of telephony starting with a manual switchboard, then Step-by-Step and Crossbar switches and tons of other tech (e.g. the teletype) along the way. Can’t say enough about this place and the experience.

Great place to visit if you're interested in telecommunications history. Large collection of devices back to the early days, plus video phones and other electronics from slightly more recent. They have full-sized automatic switching systems that are functional and make for a great mechanical background. Plus, their staff of volunteers are very knowledgeable and excited to share what they know. I highly recommend it!

An exceptional collection of amazing equipment and history, the volunteers are clearly passionate about telephony and my only regret is not arriving earlier in the day. This place is top notch and seeing switches in action was a huge bonus!

My 2nd time in 4 years and I brought my dad. He absolutely loved it as a phone and telecom guy from the 60s. Each time it's been different and very enlightening. The passion the volunteers have for their projects is awesome!

What an incredibly fascinating place. Has been on my to-do list for years and I just happened to find myself in Seattle on a Sunday with several hours to burn. Seeing all the analog mechanical switching gear made me wonder how on earth any phone call was ever completed in the old days. The folks that volunteer here are patient and very knowledgeable. Highly recommend

When visiting with kids it is a good idea to have one adult per kid. There are many things in the museum that are so tempting to touch: ancient typewriters, teletype machines, rotary phones, etc. The docent reassured us that nothing in the museum will kill you, but some caution is needed if you want to avoid pinched fingers.