Phoning It In

On this day in 1951, the first call ever in North America was made using an area code. I have this on not hopelessly bad authority, though the link (to another site) suggests otherwise. The call, by the way, was between the mayors of Englewood, New Jersey and Alameda, California.

So many things about phones we take for granted.  But there were so many steps along the way, most of them not obvious.  Sure, someone came up with this great invention where people can speak to each other across great distances. But how do they contact the other? Do they lift up the mouthpiece and talk direct to a central authority who'll plug your call into the right slot?  And how does the other party know there's a call--does a light turn on, do you just pick up your receiver randomly, or at a preset time?

Dialing numbers was a great innovation (as was adding a ring to let you know there's a call).  And then, when more and more people had phones, they needed to add more numbers to specify the location.

I've heard stories that the earliest area code plans gave the lowest numbers to the most populated areas, because with a rotary phone, the higher the numbers, the longer it takes to call.  This makes sense on the surface, even though I haven't been able to verify it. (Just as I haven't been able to verify the anniversary I'm claiming for today at the top of the post.) For instance, look at the area codes of four places I've lived (or lived right next to):  New York is 212, Detroit is 313, Chicago is 312 and Los Angeles is 213.  So I've decided to believe it.