Gray Telephone Pay Station Company Payphones List
The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company was founded in 1891 by William Gray, inventor of the first practical coin-operated payphone. Based in Hartford, Connecticut, the company pioneered public telephone access by manufacturing and installing coin-controlled pay stations across the United States. Gray’s designs enabled unattended public calling and rapidly expanded telephone use beyond private subscribers. The company became a major employer and installed tens of thousands of early payphones before patent expirations allowed competitors to enter the market. Gray’s work established the technical and commercial foundations of the modern payphone industry.