Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 by annella
“Please connect me to Main 327, Operator.”
Oh, how telephone communication has changed! This year marks my forty second year in Washington—most of them spent right here in Spokane. My husband has been here even longer—born and raised in Spokane. Recently I was communicating with one son in Seattle and another son in Medford, OR. Most of the communication was done without the use of our land telephone. Most was broadband email or instant messaging and/or cell phone calls, all without the use of a regular telephone line hookup. While emailing, my mind drifted into remembrances of past telephone calling—KEystone 5-8734. Whatever happened to word prefixes on phone numbers? When did all that end? I remembered my grandmother saying their only phone number was 3 digits. When were there only three digits? How has the phone system changed in Spokane, especially in the last 40 years?
In 1884 Charles Baker started the first telephone line in Washington, from Colfax to Almota. The system expanded rapidly, establishing exchanges for Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. In 1889 all systems in Eastern Washington were consolidated under the title of Inland Telephone and Telegraph Company of Spokane. Inland Telephone and Telegraph became part of the Bell System, Pacific States Telephone, officially in 1905. In 1915 American Telephone & Telegraph Company [AT&T] opened the first transcontinental telephone line which connected up with the Pacific Telephone subsidiary. In 1960 Pacific Telephone changed its name to Pacific Northwest Bell and remained the Spokane telephone service provider for almost 25 years. As part of the Bell Telecommunications System [A T&T] and its divestiture on January 1, 1984, Pacific NW Bell and two other Bell Systems, Mountain Bell and North Western Bell, became one system [a part of seven Regional Bell Operating Systems (RBOC)] managed by US West. Finally US West merged with Qwest in 2000.
In 1898, Washington’s phone system connected 265 towns. In Spokane, all calls were operator assisted. Phone numbers were two or three digits along with an exchange name, such as Main, East, West, Black, or Red. In 1902 the Spokane Telephone Directory covered five counties—Spokane, Stevens, Lincoln, Adams, and Ferry—and consisted of an exchange prefix, plus three or four digits. By 1950 Spokane had 11 different exchanges, each followed by 4 digits. By 1960 Spokane added six new exchanges to the previous 11 and each exchange prefix was followed by 5 digits. 1972 was the last year for letter exchange prefixes. In 1973 all Spokane numbers were seven digits.