The first outdoor payphone booth was installed in 1905 and by 1995 the number peaks in America, reaching 2.6 million phones. However, the increasing use of mobile phones has led to a decreased demand for pay telephones and they have been slowly disappearing. Approximately 100,000 public telephone booths remained in service by 2018. Originally founded in 1903 as Wilson Telephone, the company was purchased by Paul and Helen Grauer in the 1940's and has been owned and operated by the Grauer family ever since. Wilson Telephone Company has central office locations in seven communities in central Kansas with each having a working telephone booth out front.