Mayor of St. Paul receives notice that the last payphone in the town will be removed

The payphone is turning into an endangered species.

All over the country, they’re disappearing, and St. Paul is about to lose its last. It’s the end of an era for people in St. Paul who use the payphone at Kings Motel and Restaurant.

On January 24, Mayor Maureen Miller was informed by a letter from Winmactel acting on behalf TELUS Communications Inc. to provide notice that the last payphone in St. Paul will be removed on or after April 5, 2022.

According to the CRTC, there were 95,000 payphones in Canada in 2008. By the end of 2012, that number had dropped to 70,000.
“As an agent acting on behalf of TELUS Communications Inc. Winmactel sends this communication to you in compliance with CRCT decision 2004-47 sections 56 to 66,” Winmactel wrote in the letter to the Mayor. “To provide notice that the last payphone in St. Paul will be removed on or after April 5, 2022.”

“This is due to the decline in usage notification of the removal has been posted on the payphone located at the Kings motel and restaurant,” Winmactel stated. “We request that you post this notice in your local newspaper, newsletter.”

The Town of St. Paul posted the letter on its Facebook page on January 24 to inform residents.

Zachary Mahe commented, “We should put one in the museum soon” while follower J John Kehewin said, “St. Paul’s last payphone this is history in the making.”

Have you ever made a phone call from the Kings Motel and Restaurant payphone? Did it ever get you out of a jam?

Lakeland Connect would like to hear from residents and their thoughts on the end of the payphone era in St. Paul.