Erie Telephone Exchanges 1959
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| -General Telephone 1959 phone book. |
As phones became more prevalent in Erie County, PA, the telephone company started to run out of five digit numbers. So, they introduced the new, seven digit system. To make it slightly easier to memorize, each region had a two-letter prefix, followed by five numbers. For example, if you worked at First National Bank, you would tell your friends to call you at GL6-2011. There were a lot of unhappy people when the new exchanges were introduced, but people got used to dialing the extra numbers after awhile.
For example:
GL = 45
LA = 52
TE = 83
TW = 89
UN = 86
Do you remember your old phone number?
Enjoy more fun facts and old photos of Erie, PA at Old Time Erie
Enjoy more fun facts and old photos of Erie, PA at Old Time Erie
Ahhhh.... the good ol' days! GL, UN, TE and party lines! You had to pick up the phone and listen before speaking to make sure one of your neighbors wasn't using the line. If they were on, you'd apologize for interrupting and hang up. We knew courtesy back then...
ReplyDeleteI still remember our old phone number...455-1106...the only one I do remember. The phones were black and of course you had to dial (no push buttons then). We were on a four party line then...we used to get mad when the ladies would talk or gossip for an hour or too so we'd pick up the phone to make a call and hear them clucking away. We used to breath hard or put the phone down hard. They got the message...lol
ReplyDelete456-7204 It was my grandmother's number. Oh and the party lines...We moved to Belle Valley in the early 1960's. The neighbors, for whatever reason, would leave their phone off the hook. My mother would tell us to go to the neighbors house and ask them to put the phone back on it's carriage. My mother could hear us knocking on the neighbors door. I truly believe we were one of the last customers who were on a party line, maybe because it was cheaper?
ReplyDeleteYep, remember the TW9's for Wesleyville
ReplyDeleteWhat was the exchange name for 825? Was it VAlley?
ReplyDelete