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The first telephone directory, printed in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, in November 1878. Telephone directories are a type of city directory. Books listing the inhabitants of an entire city were widely published starting in the 18th century, before the invention of the telephone.
As phone lines became more popular—between 1942 and 1962, the number of phones in the U.S. grew 230% to 76 million—telephone companies realized they would run out of phone numbers.
The telephone played a major communications role in American history from the 1876 publication of its first patent by Alexander Graham Bell onward. In the 20th century the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) dominated the telecommunication market as the at times largest company in the world, until it was broken up and replaced by a system of competitors.
Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone ...
Telephone numbers listed in 1920 in New York City having three-letter exchange prefixes. In the United States, the most-populous cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago, initially implemented dial service with telephone numbers consisting of three letters and four digits (3L-4N) according to a system developed by W. G. Blauvelt of AT&T in 1917. [1]
1931: The Ericsson DBH 1001 telephone was the first telephone without a separate ringer box. [32] 25 April 1935: First telephone call around the world by wire and radio. [23] 1937: The Western Electric type 302 telephone becomes available for service in the United States. 8 December 1937: Opening of fourth transcontinental telephone line. [23]
The New-York Directory, published in 1786, was the first extant directory for New York City and the third published in the United States.It listed 846 names. A year earlier, the first two in the country were published in Philadelphia – the first, compiled by Francis White, was initially printed October 27, 1785, [1] [2] [3] and the second, compiled by John Macpherson (1726–1792), was ...
Antedating telephone directories, they were in use for centuries. Many older directories have been digitized and are available on the open web and through subscription databases. Examples include Kelly's Directory, R.L. Polk & Company, the Boston Directory, and the New York City Directory.