Who Would Believe It??
by Michael Pilligalli
Young children today have almost no concept of a telephone land line as they, and most of the rest of us, carry cell phones in our pockets and purses. Recently, after my mother’s passing, I called the phone company to sever service from her land line in the house and the Verizon person asked if I was sure as my mother and father had the old West Chester phone number for 73 years!! I can still remember growing up a small round sticker in the center of the black phone’s dial with their number which started as OWEN -6 -XXXX.
73 years is nothing when we know the background of the land line phone system. One of the early phone lines in Chester County was in place at The Anselma Mills. In 1878, John Oberholtzer had a land line installed at his shop and a connector line elevated across the street to his residence. He got the line as he served as the local postmaster and a local merchant. The span of connector was about one hundred feet from shop to his residence.
This “new fangled contraption” was talked about by all those in the area as many had no idea of this new invention in the rural parts of Chester County. “They” said it would never last just like the first record company said of the demo tape submitted by the Beatles! Had we bought stock in that phone system company years ago, we would be sitting pretty today.
The land line and phone were a drawing card for the mercantile store which Mr. Oberholtzer operated since it was asked to be seen when a shopper appeared, or someone stopped for a postage stamp. He would intrigue his customers by taking them into the back room to show the “that contraption.” They saw a large, wooden box hanging on the wall with a small funnel shaped horn extended from a wire that connected to the box. A handle was turned to connect to an operator who would direct your call to whomever you asked to have the call connected. The operator also had the availability to listen to any conversation that was placed, which enabled them to keep up with all the neighboring tales, business and gossip!! His system was so advanced for the time that he could connect the phone from his business to his house one hundred feet away and use it as an early intercom system.
We use our cell phones today with no wires, available internet service, cameras, car apps to prestart and lock our cars from a distance, email and text messages, check our front door areas from a doorbell, and GPS service to name just a few uses. I can still remember the OWEN-6 number in my youth home but have to think if someone asks for my cell number as I do not have to dial it much. I just press a contact name/number and VOILA!!