An occasional series
The question What Is Local seems to be on my mind quite often lately and something I will be exploring . It is a term we utter quite a bit: the local post office, the local weather, the local time, etc. But many of these terms that we throw around so readily have developed new or expanded meanings. For instance if you are interacting virtually with people on the other side of the world, ‘local time’ is replace by Coordinated Universal Time. But here is one concept of ‘local’ that has not changed, but actually no longer exists at all: The Local Phone Call.
In most homes during the time I grew up (the 1960s), phone calls outside your local area were considered an extravagance and, therefore, only made on rare occasions. Our local area was the city of Philadelphia, and maybe the immediate surrounding suburbs. I recall in the 1990s when the area codes were split up in Southeastern PA and all of the sudden a friend of mine who I called regularly and was considered ‘local’ became out of the calling area. In order to continue talking with her on a ‘local’ call basis, we had to pay a bit extra each month to include the new area code (which was 610).
I remember having a boyfriend in sixth grade who went to his Uncle’s house over a school break. His uncle lived in a town called King of Prussia, a suburb of the city but well outside the local calling area. On one given day, he called me three or four times which was unheard of and became the talk of our family at dinner.
People went to great lengths to not pay for a long distance call. There was the trick that if you were visiting someone far away and wanted your relatives to know you arrived safely, you called collect person- to -person. This means that the person you are calling is not only footing the bill, but the only one who the call with be put through to. So the trick was you would call the operator, give her (it was always a woman) the phone number you wanted to reach and say “I would like to make a collect person-to-person call to…” and you would give the name of your dog or some long lost relative. The operator would convey this message to whoever answered the phone to which the person answering the phone would respond: “No, Theodore isn’t home right now“. The person answering the phone would know you arrived safely and nobody spent a dime, literally.
Aside from the local call aspect, telephone numbers were assigned to such a local degree that the beginning of your phone number (the exchange) would be an indicator of where you lived. Our phone number from my childhood began with CU 9 (Cumberland 9). This was an indicator we lived in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. When I lived in Mayfair when I was older, the exchange DE 5 (Devon/Devonshire 5) was replaced by the numbers 335. A new era.
Not only can you call anyone in the whole country for the same price now, you really have no concept even what state anyone lives in let alone their town or neighborhood. So the ‘local’ phone call? As outdated as the images in this post.
Diane Podolsky 
This is so interesting. I have thought about this as well and share some memories like the person-to-person collect call trick. Having grown up in a small town I didn’t even have to use but 4 numbers for a long time to make a local call. Later they added a 3 digit number in front of the 4 digit number. We got a completely new number but only had to use 5 of the numbers to call anyone local. Then, we had to add a 1 in front of the area code and the 7 digits to call out of area. Then after Ma Bell got broken up we had the calling cards where you had an account for long distance calls and put in an account number to make the calls. Cell phones have changed so many things.
When our son lived in Europe for a few years he set up a VOIP phone that was a number in the US but he was using it in Belgium. We had to remember the time difference but didn’t have very expensive calls since he used this magic trick. Ah, technology.
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Hi Alice! This is really fascinating. We will have to talk about this some more. I am picturing ringing the operator and party lines and all of that too. Since you are from a small town, you may find the telephone book story kind of funny too if you don’t already know it.
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quite an interesting post. ________________________________
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Glad you liked it!!
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I remember my dad talking about phone calls in rural Illinois in his childhood, 1930s. You picked up the phone and the operator answered and rang your party with their signal such as 2 long and a short etc. you had to listen to see if it were yours and if not you knew who was getting a call. And you might pick up and listen on the party line. Depending on how interesting you thought it might be. In my childhood we had the same system where you knew where a person lived by the prefix. I remember when my town grew enough to get another exchange. Everyone was so confused by that. Long distance was also used for holidays or emergencies. Never just a chat. And you’d better run if you were called to the telephone long distance, time was money. My parents had the same phone number from 1965 to 2018. I will never forget it.
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This is another terrific story. I never actually knew anyone with a party line but I am thinking they were quite common. I’m interested in hearing more on this topic. You can tell me your phone number too.
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I am wondering if it has been reassigned now to another person, since it has been 4 years or so. Maybe I should call it…?
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Wow! Reading this entry flooded my thoughts with memories! I lived in Burholme, so our numbers began with PI (Pilgrim) 5 or 6! That was my “Senior” mind check for the day.
I remember having a party line and some of the use rules. One of our neighbors had a reputation of not immediately releasing the connection when there was an emergency or to leave the line open when a household was waiting for a doctor to return a call. Finally, there were enough complaints, with proof, Ma Bell placed the neighbors name and address on a “Do Not Hook Up” list!
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I didn’t know there were party lines in the city! PI was also used in Frankford (Pioneer) But the number following I think was PI3 or PI4. I remember the nickname for Frankford High School was the Pioneers. I wonder what they pioneered???
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