| Cle Elum was one of the last cities in the country to use a manual telephone switchboard. In September of 1966, the Cle Elum Historical Telephone Museum was established when Pacific Northwest Bell deeded its building to the Society for a museum of telephone history. It is now the oldest complete telephone museum west of the Mississippi, with displays covering the history of telephone technology from 1901 to 1970. The colorful history of Northern Kittitas County brings added dimension to the museum. In addition to the telephone displays, for example, the museum features a collection of coal mine artifacts which were donated by local miners, and a tribute to South Cle Elum native, Douglas Munro, the only U.S. Coast Guard Congressional Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. |
