FAQs
This led to Coy's establishing the world's first public telephone exchange on January 28, 1878. Three weeks later Coy made another first, by publishing the world's first telephone directory, a one-page list of 50 subscribers in New Haven.
Where was the first telephone directory published? ›
The first telephone directory was printed in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut.
What was the telephone directory in 1878? ›
The first telephone directory, consisting of a single piece of cardboard, was issued on 21 February 1878; it listed 50 individuals, businesses, and other offices in New Haven, Connecticut that had telephones. The directory was not alphabetized and no numbers were included with the people listed in it.
What was the first phone book missing? ›
There were no phone numbers, but there were advertisem*nts and listings of businesses in the back of the book—the first, embryonic "yellow pages." The advertisers included physicians and carriage companies.
Did old phone books have addresses? ›
In the USA, most people in towns, and most businesses, included their full address in phone books, when they were still published (area codes and zip codes were omitted). People on rural country roads might have their road but not the house number, or they might list only the rural community and no road at all.
What is the oldest telephone directory? ›
This led to Coy's establishing the world's first public telephone exchange on January 28, 1878. Three weeks later Coy made another first, by publishing the world's first telephone directory, a one-page list of 50 subscribers in New Haven.
What is the birthplace of the first telephone? ›
On June 2, 1875, Scottish immigrant and inventor Alexander Graham Bell and electrical engineer Thomas A. Watson were inside a garret of a fifth-floor building on 109 Court Street when they managed to transmit sound over wires for the first time in history.
How many names are in the first telephone book? ›
The book, a 40 page pamphlet, contained the names of the company's 391 subscribers as well as a step-by-step primer on how to properly operate a telephone receiver, since the technology was still novel and unfamiliar to most users.
What did phone numbers look like in the 1920s? ›
The older numbers had two or three digits. Later, four digits were used. In December 1920, as the phone company prepared for direct local dialing, all numbers became four digits. The older two- and three-digit numbers acquired four digits by adding one or two zeroes: Spring 255, say, would have become Spring 0255.
What did the telephone look like in 1876? ›
This is one of two telephones used by Bell in a demonstration between Boston and Salem, Mass., Nov. 26, 1876. It features an iron diaphragm, two electromagnets and a horseshoe permanent magnet. Unlike other so-called “box telephones” in the Smithsonian collection, it does not have a wooden cover.
Depends on where, the Last British phone book was printed in March 2024, in the US they were phased out since 2010 (different date from state to state), in Germany it is published online only and so on. In Virginia, USA, yes - its privately published not by the phone company.
Are old phone books worth anything? ›
There are also a number of telephone book collectors; some who make money selling their stock to those with a historical interest or who are researching family genealogies. Lifelong collector Gwillim Law sells old phonebooks from all 50 U.S. states as well as from most Canadian and Australian provinces.
What was the first phone that could text? ›
Nokia was the first handset manufacturer whose total GSM phone line in 1993 supported user-sending of SMS text messages. In 1997, it became the first manufacturer to produce a mobile phone with a full keyboard: the Nokia 9000i Communicator. Like any new technology, initial growth for SMS was slow.
Why were phone books yellow? ›
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings.
What were the Yellow Pages in a phone book? ›
The Yellow Pages were used to find businesses, and the White Pages helped find people's phone numbers and addresses.
What year did they stop making phone books? ›
In 2008, one of the only known surviving copies of the world's first telephone books sold at auction for over $170,000. The demise of the phone book began on Oct. 14, 2010, when regulators in New York approved Verizon's request to stop mass-printing residential phone books.
Where was the site of the first telephone exchange? ›
The first commercial telephone exchange in the world began operations on January 28, 1878 in a storefront of the Boardman Building in New Haven. George W. Coy designed and built the world's first switchboard for commercial use.
Where was the world's first public telephone booth? ›
The world's first telephone box called "Fernsprechkiosk", was opened on 12 January 1881 at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. To use it, one had to buy paper tickets called Telefonbillet which allowed for a few minutes of talking time.
When was the first phone call from heaven published? ›
Where did the phone book come from? ›
But in February 1878, the phone book was cutting-edge technology. First published on this day in 1878, the telephone directory widely considered to be the absolute first phone book was nothing but a sheet of cardboard with the names of both private people and businesses who had a telephone.
