City of Cle Elum

Heart of the Cascades

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Museums

Carpenter House Museum;

A step over the threshold of the Carpenter House is a step into the past. This marvelous 1914 mansion, with its spacious rooms, tiny alcoves and third-floor ballroom, holds the story of Cle Elum’s first successful banker and his family. High Country Artists shares this historic house, and its art displays provide visitors an added […]

 

Telephone Museum: 

The oldest complete telephone museum west of the Mississippi with displays covering the history of telephone technology from 1876 to 1970. This was the location of the last operator-assisted, switchboard phone company in the Pacific Northwest Bell system spanning Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. PNW Bell closed this outpost of operator-assisted service in September 1966, and donated the building to the Northern Kittitas County Historical Society to be used as a museum. The museum also features a collection of coal mining artifacts.

Carpenter House Museum Home

A step over the threshold of the Carpenter House is a step into the past. This marvelous 1914 mansion, with its spacious rooms, tiny alcoves and third-floor ballroom, holds the story of Cle Elum’s first successful banker and his family. High Country Artists shares this historic house, and its art displays provide visitors an added experience.

Cle Elum Telephone Museum

A step over the threshold of the Carpenter House is a step into the past. This marvelous 1914 mansion, with its spacious rooms, tiny alcoves and third-floor ballroom, holds the story of Cle Elum’s first successful banker and his family. High Country Artists shares this historic house, and its art displays provide visitors an added experience.

This museum was established in 1966 when Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company deeded its former office building to the Cle Elum Historical Society. At that time Cle Elum became the last in the telephone company’s service area to be changed over from manual phone service to automatic dialing.