Worlds First Pay Telephone - Hartford, Connecticut - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

"William Gray invented the first pay phone in 1889. It was installed in a bank in Hartford, Connecticut. His innovation allowed everyday people who couldn’t afford their own phones to make business and personal calls.

Gray originally came up with the idea of a coin-operated public payphone after he needed to call a doctor when his wife fell ill. At the time, owning a phone meant paying an expensive monthly fee, leaving only the well-to-do with access.

He couldn’t afford to pay for an expensive monthly phone subscription, so he ran down to a local business and asked to use their phone, but they said no. He struggled to find anyone willing to let him use theirs. Gray, an inventor by trade, thought there must be a way to have a phone that people could use and pay for only when needed.

Gray’s payphone concept would bring the telephone to the masses. In his obituary, the Hartford Courant said the payphone was Gray’s “crowning invention” because of how it popularized the telephone and made it possible for anyone with a bit of pocket change to use a public phone without the aid of an attendant.

Though the original payphone is no longer at the bank, you can find a plaque memorializing the innovation that transformed telephones from a luxury commodity into a necessity available to the masses." - Atlas Obscura

Blue Plaque managing agency: Connecticut Historic Preservation Office Individual Recognized: William Gray and George A. Long Physical Address: 777 Main Street Hartford, Connecticut United States of America 06103 Web Address: [Web Link]

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