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Hometown Phones/Phone Related items.

Started by AET, February 08, 2010, 01:22:33 AM

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AET

I was shopping at our antique shop here in town, and came across the only item I had ever seen with our old alphanumeric exchange on it.  (I actually didn't even know we had one until then) It was a mirror from 1963, which had crossing guard children on it, and the old license plate keychains, for anybody who remembers those.  And there was advertising on it with a Portage number reading "RIverside-2" which I guess is a good prefix, since we are between the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. 

Sorry to go off on such a tangent.  Just was interested in everybody elses stories about hometown goodies.
- Tom

foots

  That's interesting Tom. Port Barre never had an exchange, I guess a population of around 2,000 people may have been a bit too small to get one? My only hometown phone that I got so far is the white soft plastic '59 500 that my brother had found when he moved into his present home. He was throwing it away so I grabbed it. I do have a few other phones and various things from nearby towns, but only one from here. It still had the fire dept. sticker on it with the 4 digit phone number.
"Ain't Worryin' 'Bout Nothin"

jsowers

#2
Tom, below is a phone I got on eBay over a year ago. I collect WE phones and live in an independent telco terrotory, so I have to go out of town to find most of them. The nearest Bell System city to me is Winston-Salem, NC. Yes, that was home to RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co, and two of their cigarette brands were named after the city. My Uncle Joe worked there for 30 years and my Uncle Don worked for Southern Bell there for many years too.

Anyway, I've only found three phones with old exchange cards from that city. Their main exchange was PArk and they also had STate and SOuth. I've found two PArks and one STate and no SOuth in about 20 years of looking. Below is the best one. It belonged to the seller's uncle and it's all complete to 6-59. I haven't cleaned it up yet, and it's not in very bad shape as it is.
Jonathan

Dennis Markham

Great phone, Jonathan!  I can't get enough of those red soft plastic 500 sets.

AET

I bet it was something to live in Winston-Salem back then, when the tobacco industry was thriving there.

The alphanumerics are always my favorite.  I'm trying to find any HOpkins exchange ones that I can get as well as RIverside, but so far have none of either.
- Tom

jsowers

Quote from: AtomicEraTom on February 11, 2010, 01:54:14 AM
I bet it was something to live in Winston-Salem back then, when the tobacco industry was thriving there.

I went to my first year of college there in 1976-77. It was south of downtown and the tobacco smell was almost a daily occurrence, mostly in the mornings. It sort of perfumed the air and wasn't bad. The smell of cured tobacco I'm referring to is pretty much the smell of an unlit cigarette. Now those tobacco warehouses downtown are history and the manufacturing plant moved to a small town north of the city in 1986. My uncle had a lot to do with the construction of that plant. I think they have also vacated the art deco Reynolds Building downtown. It was like a smaller version of the Empire State Building.

To bring the subject back to phones, smoke from those cigarettes faded the plastic on 50s phones and with smoking so prevalent in the 50s, it's not easy to find one unaffected by it. It affected the lighter colors the most, and aqua blue in particular turns greenish.
Jonathan

AET

Well, I lucked out, found a Calendar the other day at the Antique Shop, 1964, for Hauser Oil Company here in Portage, with the RIverside exchange. Now, just need to find a phone with the exchange on the card! I don't even have a later 742 one.
- Tom