Kansas Central Offices

Shawnee and Mission are nearly adjacent suburbs of Kansas City KS, southwest of the City. They are both west of the actual “Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site” which is in Fairway, KS. This is a very prosperous area of the Kansas City, KS Metroplex.

It is in the heart of the historic district of this university home to the Kansas Jayhawks. In 1981 the city decided that the radio horns did not look good in this district and they required Southwestern Bell to pour an enormous amount of money into the aesthetic tower before they would allow the placement of additional antenna. I believe the price tag was $1M. The city outgrew the No2 ESS switch here in 1982 so the existing switch was removed and reinstalled in Little Rock Mohawk basement to allow the removal of the No 5 Crossbar to clear the way for the No. 1A ESS switch needed in Mohawk.

This office is also unique in that the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce is located inside the building as shown.

The new office was built in the 1950s to replace the old office which is now home to a newspaper. It was impossible to do a building addition to the old office so the 355CDO in the old building was replaced by a no. 5 Crossbar in the new building. This city was the first station west of Saint Joseph, MO on the Pony Express route.

Old Exchanges: ELm

This building is relatively new, it dates from 1986. The original Amherst central office still stands several blocks away from this one. It was turned over to the old AT&T long distance company after divestiture once this building was completed and a Nortel DMS100 now serves the downtown customer base.

The large building directly behind Amherst is Wichita Broadway which was the old Wichita Toll office shared between Southwestern Bell and AT&T Long Distance. Once the long distance folks had vacated Toll it became the Broadway office and the old Amherst became the new Toll AT&T POP.

EMPORIA	The second floor addition was done in the late 1970s for the installation of a Lucent No. 2B ESS switch to serve this farm and college town situated halfway between Topeka and Wichita. Note that the AT&T branding is continuing apace, it’s nice to see a corporate logo back on these buildings.
KANSAS CITY "BENTON"
KANSAS CITY "DUPONT"	For reasons known only to long passed Telephone company folks this is known as the Dupont office, it is not on Dupont street and it is in Overland Park , KS , a large KC suburb. The entire building is surrounded by huge oak trees. Old Exchanges: NAtional
KANSAS CITY "LENEXA"	Lenexa is another Southern suburb of Kansas City, KS adjacent to Lenexa on its north. AT&T stages cabinets in another site in Lenexa.
KANSAS CITY "SHAWNEE"	Shawnee and Mission are nearly adjacent suburbs of Kansas City KS, southwest of the City. They are both west of the actual “Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site” which is in Fairway, KS. This is a very prosperous area of the Kansas City, KS Metroplex.
KANSAS CITY "STANLEY"	The office was a small farm house when Southwestern Bell bought the company in the 1950s. The original Stanley office was the small building on the left rear of this picture. It is home to a Nortel DMS100. Old Exchanges: STanley
LAWRENCE	It is in the heart of the historic district of this university home to the Kansas Jayhawks. In 1981 the city decided that the radio horns did not look good in this district and they required Southwestern Bell to pour an enormous amount of money into the aesthetic tower before they would allow the placement of additional antenna. I believe the price tag was $1M. The city outgrew the No2 ESS switch here in 1982 so the existing switch was removed and reinstalled in Little Rock Mohawk basement to allow the removal of the No 5 Crossbar to clear the way for the No. 1A ESS switch needed in Mohawk. This office is also unique in that the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce is located inside the building as shown.
MANHATTAN	Manhattan is the home to Kansas State University. Old Exchange: FAirchild
MARYSVILLE (ORIGINAL CO) MARYSVILLE (CURRENT CO)	The new office was built in the 1950s to replace the old office which is now home to a newspaper. It was impossible to do a building addition to the old office so the 355CDO in the old building was replaced by a no. 5 Crossbar in the new building. This city was the first station west of Saint Joseph, MO on the Pony Express route. Old Exchanges: ELm
OTTAWA	This immaculate little town is 25 miles southwest of Kansas City. It is the county seat for Franklin county and has an impressive Courthouse built in 1893.
TOPEKA "7TH & FAIRLAWN"	Office dates from the late 1980s when it was built to house a Lucent No. 5ESS remote switch (Hosted out of Topeka Crestwood) to provide ISDN services to western Topeka .
TOPEKA "AMHERST"	As you can see it sports the new AT&T logo which is now being widely deployed on offices which had no signage for the last 8 or 9 years. It serves southeast Topeka. Old Exchanges: AMherst
TOPEKA "CRESTWOOD"	Office is located in southwestern Topeka and provides phone service to the suburbs around it. Old Exchange: CRestwood
TOPEKA "JACKSON"	This is the AT&T Central Office which serves the Capitol. Old Exchanges: JAckson
TOPEKA "JUNCTION"	Houses a remote switch which serves Southwest Topeka.
WICHITA "AMHERST"	This building is relatively new, it dates from 1986. The original Amherst central office still stands several blocks away from this one. It was turned over to the old AT&T long distance company after divestiture once this building was completed and a Nortel DMS100 now serves the downtown customer base. The large building directly behind Amherst is Wichita Broadway which was the old Wichita Toll office shared between Southwestern Bell and AT&T Long Distance. Once the long distance folks had vacated Toll it became the Broadway office and the old Amherst became the new Toll AT&T POP.