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Not many people had phones those days. |
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| Real early phones had a crank on the side and no dial. When you wanted to call someone, you turned the crank a few times and this blinked a light at the telephone office. There an operator would plug into your line and ask who you wanted to call. You would tell her and she would plug into that line and crank to ring the bell on that party's phone. When you were both on the line she would patch you both together so you could talk. I am sure that she listened in on the conversation when she wasn't busy. Many times when you called to talk to someone the operator might tell you that they were not home right now because she knew that they had gone somewhere. As phone service was upgraded dial service came in to being. The early phones only required you to dial 4 digits. To call out of town you would dial 0 for the operator and she would connect you. No area codes at this time. Also most users were on a party line. This meant that 4 or 5 homes would be on the same line and each one had a distinctive ring. So you answered when you heard your combination of rings. This also meant that you knew when someone else on your line got a call and you could lift up the receiver and listen in. Party lines also made it hard to make a call. Many times you would pick up to dial and someone would be talking, so you had to wait till they were done before you could make a call. |
