March 11, 2016 (Friday)
On this day, March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful telephone call, saying to his partner, “Mister Watson, come here, I want to see you.” He received a patent for his device in 1878 (picture at right).
A couple of years later, President Rutherford B. Hayes had a telephone installed in the White House (picture at left – hover cursor over image to enlarge). Alas, there were so few telephones in the world that it was not very useful. But that has changed. Today there are telephones everywhere in this country.
The average telephone number is ten digits long. Three numbers represent the area code, three the local prefix, and four numbers to complete the identity. When I was 5 years old, I knew our address and phone number. I still do. We lived at 517 Caplin in Houston (no zip codes in those days). Our number was C 5171. That was it. Four numbers prefaced with a letter. The “C” was shorthand for “Capital.” Little by little, the numbers became longer.
The “H” was for “Hadley,” and the “O” was for “Orchard.” Time service was “Capital 
3131.” A real person answered, gave a very short commercial message and then stated the time. “O” put you in contact with a real live operator. She was useful for many things, but especially for long distance. You could call a number and talk with anyone who answered, or you could call “person to person” (more expensive) If you were not calling from your own phone, you could have the call charged to your number. You could call “collect.” Bit by bit other options were added through the years.
In the small towns, the operator (many times known as “Central”) was absolutely essential to daily life. Most people just called her by her first name. She knew everything about everybody. She was the “facebook” of that era. No doubt she did worlds of good for the people, who really missed her when the dial system came to town. According to old timers, the newfangled phones didn’t work right half the time.
Today many people are removing their “landlines” and using only their cellular phones for
all purposes. The new phones take pictures and make video (and audio) recordings. The “apps” do many jobs for people. They connect the user with the internet, and do hundreds of other things. There are so many of them now that one hears people talking with them in most public places. When people drive their cars and try texting or talking with their phones, accidents occur and sometimes lives are lost.Alexander Graham Bell, what hast thou wrought?
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