The first time I remember our family even having access to a telephone was in Toppenish, WA. Dad would get messages that the Lloyd and Shilling construction company had called so he would go to the "tourist court" office and call them back. Sometimes it would take an hour to make the connection and find out what they wanted. Most times it meant Dad would be gone a week or more. We lived in that tourist court for about 6 months. I got my first real job there.

The first call I made on our phone in Markham, TX was to Caro. The phone cord was only about 3 foot long so I had to talk to her in front of my family. No such thing as privacy. I finally figured out how to hunker down behind the couch and whisper to her so nobody else could hear me. Mom and dad never let us boys talk on the phone more than 3 minutes. When our sisters got old enough they would talk for hours and the phone had a 25 foot cord.

Now Caro and I have 3 land line phones each with 2 extensions and 2 cell phones. All different numbers. We have actually called each other on our cell phones while we were in this house. The house is 1100 square feet and is only 50 feet from one end to the other.

But even with all that no call has been s exciting as that first call to Caro to ask her "if you will be in Bay City Saturday would you like to go to a movie with me? Angry Red Planet is on at the Texas Theater." God I couldn't breath and she had to ask me to repeat what I said. More later!!

OH BOY DO I FEEL OLD NOW. I REMEMBER THE OLD WOODEN ONES HANGING ON WALL. TWO SHORT AND ONE LONG WAS OUR RING. 3 PARTY LINE, ONE LONG AND ONE SHORT WAS OUR NEIGHBORS ABOUT 3 MILES AWAY. AND THREE LONG WAS ANOTHER NEIGHBOR. AND ONE LONG WAS THE OPERATOR. WHEN THEY GOT A CALL IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR THE LADIES TO GET ON AND TALK IF THEY WANTED.

FIRST KIND I REMEMBER WAS A CANDELSTICK ONE AND YOU DIALED IT.WHEN WE MOVED TO SULLIVAN CO.WE HAD A HAND CRANK ON THE WALL AND YOU WOUND THE THING ON THE SIDE TO GET AN OPERATOR.IT WAS ALSO A PARTY LINE AND I LISTENED IF MOTHER WASN'T AROUND.HEARD THINGS LIKE WHAT TEEN WAS PG (A BIG SHAME AND SECRET THEN) AND ABOUT THE TEEN WHOSE ELASTIC IN HER UNDERPANTS BROKE AND THEY FELL DOWN INTHE GENERAL STORE.THEY ACTED LIKE IT WAS HER FAULT.MOTHER WOULD YELL AT ME IF SHE FOUND ME LISTENING IN.

So a lot of families like ours stayed in those tourist courts until better housng came available. We forget today just how different America was in the late 40s and 50s. We were still largely a human powered country. Very few power tools in the home construction industry so you had to wait for a home. The building boom was awesome in Oregon and Washington after the war but it wasn't fast enough.

Few people had phones. Speed limit around 35 miles per hour. Motor trips usually were short spurts because tires were not like now and you had a flat every couple hundred miles or so.

Zippers!! I just wrote a book. Sorry for the long answer.

They were the forerunners of motels and hotels.

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Sammy 4/2 5:03a

I never had a phone until after I was married. It was a black desk type phone. You had to pick it up and give the number you wanted to call to the operator, she would put the call through. It was a party line. Later I worked at the telephone Co. as a long distance operator.

Click

That was a fun job. I really wish I had stayed with it. I would have a much better retirement pension than I have now. But I became pregnant with my daughter, and was having problems with getting adequate day care for my son. So I quit my job.

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Click here for the ieee-virtual-museum with a lot of information about electrical and electronic technological subjects.

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Wayne 4/6 8:11p
How do you think people will be answering this in 25 years?

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Di 4/7 9:17p
We had a rotary that hung on the wall in the kitchen. Now we have a cordless that has an extra handset ans charger. NO cell phones for us

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Amelia 4/6 11:23p
I can only imagine, but I'm sure we will be wearing them like wrist watches that will have a tiny LCD screen on it. You will be looking right at the person that is calling you on the screen. I think the "Jetson's" era will be here sooner than we know.

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Sarah 4/7 1:02a
My sister and I had the phone installed for our parents. I'd say that was about 1947. It was a black cradle phone with four other families on the line. I do not remember how much it cost, but it was very expensive because we lived in the country and had to pay to have the line extended about a mile. Now, I have one line with 3 phones. The one in the kitchen is a rotary wall phone that is least 45 years old. We added a clock radio phone in the bedroom and a princess phone in the living room. When I use webby no one can call in. Every once in a while I use "messenger" to tell Peggie to hang up so I can call her. I also have a cell phone for emergencies and while traveling.

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Amelia 4/7 7:53a
I hadn't really thought about it but I bet you are absolutely right...It has not been that long since we were building automobile phone hook-ups into the consoles of cars. (We built the consoles where I worke) These were regular sized phones. Probably as late as 1993 or later. Then came the cell phones, Just think of the difference in size from those first ones to the ones we have now. It's mind boggling.

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Kath 4/7 11:04a
It is mind boggling to me too, I don't have a cell phone and no desire to have one, but my kids want me to ( for safety reasons ) They frustrate me, and I really cannot hear on them that well..Guess, I'm too old to change or stubborn ?? Haha

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I can't imagine that!! LOL!! I haven't figured out how to work a cell phone yet..

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Lee 4/7 4:14p
When I was a child we had the pick up kind and you went thru the operator for any call local or long distance. We were always on a party line until I was about 11 or 12. What a luxury it was to have a private line. I don't remember at what age we got a dial phone. the touch tone came out after ole Bill and I married.

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