Hello, Central? How the Telephone Came Home

From one shouted sentence in a Boston workshop in 1876 to a phone on the kitchen wall, in about seventy years: the first call, the first exchange, the first operators, the switch built by an undertaker, party lines, the dial and the keypad. With a note on what is documented and what is legend.

October 9, 2026 · 8 min · 1592 words · Justin