Some of the downtown business community were scratching their heads last week, wondering what happened to the pay phone on Front Street.

The phone, located on the side of the port-owned Collections building, seemingly disappeared, leaving the quaint cubby designed for the phone empty.

“I was out of town for a few days, back at work yesterday and noticed it was gone,” said David Day, executive director for the Port of Coupeville. “I do not know for sure when they took it away, but it certainly signals the end of an era, doesn’t it?”

The phone was not removed in the dead of night, as some speculated. In fact, owner Frontier Communications said the phone was removed as part of an ongoing auditing process of infrequently used pay phones.

Emily Tantare, a representative for Frontier, said the phone is one of four in the Coupeville area and was removed because it wasn’t generating revenue.

Because it was an unbilled pay phone, meaning a local agency wasn’t responsible for its monitoring, no one was informed of its removal.

While some residents speculated the removal was signifying the end of an era regarding the need for pay phones, Tantare said Washington state, in fact, has one of the highest number of pay phones.

She said Frontier has more pay phones in Washington than most any other state.

“There’s a greater need,” she said, “because of the mountains.”

There are 450 Frontier pay phones in Washington, but most won’t be found in a booth.

Tantare said pay phones are more frequently found mounted in cubbies, like the one on Front Street, or sitting on shelf.

Frontier would not provide usage information for the Front Street pay phone, but there has been some confirmed usage.

Coupeville Marshal Rick Norrie said his department got quite a few 9-1-1 hangup calls from the phone.

“It was more so in the summertime,” he said. “It was youngsters being youngsters.”

But every hangup received, the marshal’s office did have to investigate.

“Once in a blue moon we’d get something legitimate,” he said.