The Post Office Exhibition - Drogheda's Early Telephone System

The first telephone exchange in Ireland was opened by the Limited Telephone Company on the top floor of Commercial Buildings in Dame Street Dublin. (They have now been demolished to make way for the Central Bank Building).

The first record of an exchange in Drogheda was in 1893, when the National Telephone Company took over from the Telephone Co. of Ireland. The exact location is not known. When the Post Office took over in 1912, it was transferred to the Post Office – beside St. Peter’s Church in West Street. In 1934 there were between 120 & 130 subscribers. The 2 manual switchboards were known as C.B.S. (Common Battery Signaling) No.1 and the indicator’s were known as doll’s eyes.

We have some of these early switchboards and a great collection of the earliest phones, as well as the instruments for the Morse Code and much more in Drogheda’s Millmount Museum.