Play the role of a telephone operator or dial a rotary telephone at the Museum of Independent Telephony, located within the Heritage Center museum building. This hands-on experience follows the history of the telephone from Alexander Graham Bell's first message to Mr. Watson to the flip phone of recent fame. 

Discover the story of local entrepreneur C. L. Brown, who after having his right arm amputated following a farming accident as a youngster took his misfortune and turned it into a global empire under the United Company umbrella, founding several businesses including one that later became Sprint Telecommunications.

The Museum of Independent Telephony showcases the first telephone installed in Kansas in 1877 and exhibits the progression of telephone manufacturing to modern day. We tell the story of the Kansas men and women whose fine workmanship and innovation created the device that transformed the world.