The Juneau & Douglas Telephone Company, 204 Main Street, sits on a sloped grade on Telephone Hill's east side below the hilltop where the Edward Webster House stands on 204 Main Street Block 6; Lots 3-4.
From 1915 until 1956 the company was located in a Webster House extension (Hurley, Carrigan 1983). By 1956, the increased telephone demand prompted the company's search for another site and construction of a larger building. Lots 3 and 4 were purchased that year from B.M. Behrends, a store owner and banker who had maintained ownership since 1901.
Two vintage residential structures were removed from the site to permit construction of the new telephone building. The telephone company's new structure housed the first automatic dialing system in Juneau. Today it serves as a switching station.
The Webster family sold the Juneau & Douglas Telephone Company to Continental Telephone Company in 1968.
The rectangular, one-story, Industrial Box building, was constructed in 1956. Its 40' x l00' area encompasses 4,000 square feet. The structure is made of steel and concrete with a steel entry door and stepped, flat canopy on the east facade.
The main floor's small switching room previously served as a public service counter. The room had four windows facing Main Street, but they have since been covered over. A larger room on the main floor contains the main frame of the switching station. The basement contains a storage area for an emergency generator, furnace, transformer and garage.