Seniors

trof

(54,273 posts) Mon Dec 24, 2018, 06:57 PM Dec 2018

I remember when there was one telephone in the house. [View all]

I wasn't the old candlestick phone, but a modern one with the speaker and receiver in the one hand-piece. It was black and had a dial, of course.

It sat on a special little seat and table combo in the hall.

Our phone number was 71353.
It was a party line that we shared with another subscriber.
Our signal was one long and two short rings.
I think the other party was two longs.
Still, it was fun and a bit daring to pick up on the two longs and eavesdrop.

When my grandmother needed a phone number she'd say to me "Honey, call Central and ask for Vincent's market's phone number."
I didn't know what 'Central' was, but I knew you just dialed 'O' and asked the lady to look up a number.

That's my reminiscence for Christmas eve which has nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas eve.
Merry Christmas.

trof

43 replies

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Highlight:

I remember when there was one telephone in the house. [View all] trof Dec 2018 OP

I am really old I pre-date the dial phone. I think there were 8 doc03 Dec 2018 #1

Mayberry trof Dec 2018 #2

I remember visiting a relative somewhere in West Virginia. They had what they called the farmers doc03 Dec 2018 #14

When we got a phone it was an 8 party line. Our ring was one long ring. Arkansas Granny Dec 2018 #7

Melrose - 2786 lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #26

Melrose was the exchange for Martins Ferry, Ohio where I went to doc03 Jan 2019 #43

Our party line had 7 families on it. Ferrets are Cool Dec 2018 #3

Ours was also a party line. Remember when reception was so lousy for long distance calls tblue37 Dec 2018 #4

Oh yeah. A long distance call was a BIG DEAL! trof Dec 2018 #5

In my family, it was two rings. NanceGreggs Dec 2018 #9

Great story. trof Dec 2018 #20

Cool story! Lithos Jan 2019 #35

We did the 2 rings, too. nt tblue37 Jan 2019 #42

Hi, Carl! MyOwnPeace Dec 2018 #10

My boy friend and I did that same sort of thing too with arranging dates by coded messages. northoftheborder Dec 2018 #18

Yeah-the operators were definitely on to that scam! Lol! Alliepoo Dec 2018 #15

Trust me, the operators were on to you. PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2019 #25

I called my high school FES lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #28

What does FES mean? NBachers Jan 2019 #37

Foreign Exchange Student lapfog_1 Jan 2019 #39

We had a party line too Zoonart Jan 2019 #33

21987! akraven Dec 2018 #6

Yes, one phone in the house, three families on the party line. NT enough Dec 2018 #8

Our phone number began with 2 letters marked50 Dec 2018 #11

Yep lillypaddle Dec 2018 #24

we had this one KT2000 Dec 2018 #12

We had that phone too! blaze Dec 2018 #21

Oh, yeah, you could drop those suckers on the floor and not break them. brush Jan 2019 #32

I remember making a long distance call way back. Sneederbunk Dec 2018 #13

I still remember our old phone # Ohiogal Dec 2018 #16

MAyflower 3-5649. Southern Ohio Laurian Dec 2018 #17

When I was a 'ute, we had the candle stick. Around 1952, dial phones came in. I was in 7th grade. 3Hotdogs Dec 2018 #19

Temple 2 dweller Dec 2018 #22

We has two when I was growing up. One in the living room and one in my parents' bedroom. worstexever Dec 2018 #23

I recIg ently read a novel in which people in the 1950s called PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2019 #27

I can remember, as kids, gathering around to watch Dad make rare long distance calls. NBachers Jan 2019 #38

We had a wall phone in the kitchen and another phone in the parents' bedroom. The Velveteen Ocelot Jan 2019 #29

My earliest recollection of our phone was a party line. House of Roberts Jan 2019 #30

My grandmother's sister ran the switchboard for her neck of the woods. applegrove Jan 2019 #31

Even more of a hoot was the Phone book at the time. Wellstone ruled Jan 2019 #34

Higate 2600 demosincebirth Jan 2019 #36

We had a combo table and seat in the hall also, with the phone on top. secondwind Jan 2019 #40

our number was 4491 rurallib Jan 2019 #41