Gray Telephone Pay Station Co.Gray Telephone Pay Station Co.1891–1948Founded by William Gray in Hartford, Connecticut in 1891, Gray Telephone Pay Station Company pioneered the coin-operated payphone. Gray received the first practical payphone patent in 1889, inspired by being refused use of a factory telephone during a family emergency. The company's first payphone was installed on a Hartford street corner outside a bank. By 1902 there were 81,000 payphones across America, many built by Gray. The company was renamed Gray Manufacturing in 1939, and the pay station division was acquired by Automatic Electric in 1948. · payphone, American · Source: Pioneers