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Long before the age of smart phones, the early days of phone service in Springfield were about as simple as it gets. Pick up the phone, make sure no one else on your party line is using it, and then give the operator the name or the number of the person you’re trying to reach. The operator would then complete the call.
That all changed forever in Springfield on August 19, 1939, when the first dial telephone service was introduced. Dial phones had already been in use for several years in surrounding towns like Riverton and Rochester. But in Springfield, implementing the new system was more complicated. People had to be instructed on how to use the rotary dial, and on something they’d never heard before… a dial tone. And all 14,500 phone numbers in the city, which had previously been four or five digits, had to be changed to accommodate the new direct-dialing system.
Learn more about the introduction of dial telephones to Springfield here, and get more Springfield history at SangamonLink, the official blog of the Sangamon County Historical Society — and here each week in the Springfield History Minute.
