In 1884, for example, the Atlanta Telephone Exchange had just 370 subscribers. Moreover, with switchboards, there were no telephone numbers. Instead, the caller would ask the operator to be connected ...

Telephone operators work at the switchboard in the Pacific Telephone Chinatown branch, 1941. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Telephone operators work side by side, 1941.

LeBaron: When switchboards and operators were the hubs of small-town life The Museum of Sonoma County has a telephone switchboard that is 6 feet high and 4 feet long on display. Slide 1 of 4 ...

Memories of shorter phone numbers and sharing party lines are a little closer in the North Country, since many of our communities used switchboards and relied on operators much later than urban areas.

ROCKLAND — Bells are ringing and lights flashing as you walk into the Rockland Switchboard and Telephone History Discovery Center in an old converted sandpaper factory near the center of town ...

Rena McDonald of the California Telephone Association said it is the last manual switchboard used by a commercial telephone company in the state. Originally Published: April 17, 1991 at 4:00 a.m.