At a time when all but the poorest of the poor seem to have cell phones, I would have thought payphones to be a thing of the past – a quaint Twentieth Century anachronism.

But it turns out I was wrong.

According to the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, which regulates such things, there are, as of 2009, some 282 functioning payphones spread across Manchester, NH, including what is arguably the coolest payphone in the city - an old school British phone booth located near the City Hall Annex on Market Street:

When asked to what extent the number of payphones in Manchester, NH, has decreased in recent years, the PUC’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Amanda O. Noonan, said the agency does not track such information. Alas.

While some of the city's remaining payphones can be found at the occasional random spot (like Crystal Lake or the Amoskeag Bingo Center), the vast majority of the payphones in Manchester, NH, can be found at one of nine types of establishment, including food markets and other retail stores. Seen here is one such payphone located outside of  U & P Convenience, near the corner of Merrimack and Pine streets:

Other likely places to find payphones in Manchester, NH, are:

• fast food and other chain restaurants;
• schools;
• gas stations;
• transportation hubs (the airport and bus station);
• motels, shelters and boarding homes;and
• medical facilities and nursing homes;

But the highest concentration of payphones anywhere in Manchester, NH, can be found 445 Willow St., which houses a facility in which none of the residents has access to a cell phone. I speak, of course, of the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections - better known as the Valley Street Jail - which has some 37 payphones for inmate use.

(A Word document showing the location and phone number of each of 282 pay phones in Manchester, NH, can be downloaded here.)

Update on Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:17PM by Will Stewart

While making a loop around the Massabesic Traffic Circle earlier this afternoon, I spotted this second British telephone booth a few feet from the road on what appeared to be the property of SNG Barratt, a Jaguar parts dealer:

Unlike the similar booth behind City Hall, however, this one has no phone inside.