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Published on Apr 25, 2017
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It all started with Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 when he invented the telephone.
Photo by Timitrius
Back in the early days of telephony, any call you made had to be routed through a human operator at a central office.
Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives
Even if you wanted to call one of your neighbors, the operator had to make the connection using a switchboard. You’d pick up the phone and tell the operator that you wanted to make a call. Then, she would connect your phone line and your neighbor’s with a piece of wire.
Photo by Neil Rickards
Early switchboards in large cities usually were mounted floor to ceiling in order to allow the operators to reach all the lines in the exchange. The first operators were boys who would use a ladder to connect to the higher jacks. Later, mostly women were operators.
Photo by T a k
