Missoula’s Forgotten Relics: Where Have You Seen Telephone Booths and Payphones?

I did a little training for summer-Saturday-mornings this past weekend.

The weather was cold, but I wanted to be in downtown Missoula. It's one of the best places to be in Missoula on a Saturday morning. I went for some donuts then found myself in the Florence Building and noticed something unexpected on the wall that I'd never noticed before. There are old-fashioned telephone booths along one wall. It got me wondering. Where are there other telephone booths or payphones in Missoula?

I did try Googling, "Where are there payphones in Missoula" and got a very outdated list with lots of locations. If the volume of listings wasn't enough of a clue, when I saw that one of them was at Kmart, it was pretty clear the list wasn't current. 

READ MORE: Is Missoula Old-Fashioned, Retro, or a Bunch of Luddites? 

Someone told me that there's one at Dorblaser Field. I checked Google Maps and yep, they were right. 

Somebody else said there might be one at Yokes Market on South Reserve. Then I wondered about the iconic places in Missoula that might still have telephone booths or payphones. The Oxford comes to mind, and so does Charlie B's. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a telephone booth or payphone somewhere on the University of Montana campus.  

Then there are the functional places. Are there still payphones at Missoula's gas stations or travel plazas? Hotels or motels?

We've talked before about whether Missoula is old-fashioned, retro, or full of luddites and I think the presence of telephone booths and payphones is more evidence that Missoula is retro. But I'm really curious. Where have you seen telephone booths or payphones around Missoula? Send us a message (or a picture!) on our app. I'm curious if there is any link between these locations, or if they all have something in common.