Oldest telephones never removed from service

[Jon Kolger]

I started working for GTE of Indiana back in 1976.  At that time, is was not uncommon to still find AE Type 40s, 50s, and even 34s still in service.  But the most interesting phone I ever came across that was still in service (this would have been late 70s or early 80s) was an AE dial candlestick still wired to it's subset.  The customer was a very elderly lady who had one of those old-time hearing aids that had a microphone that hung from a strap that she wore around her neck.  It turns out that she wouldn't give up the candlestick because she could hold the receiver up to the microphone and still speak directly into the transmitter.  It worked perfectly for her needs.  All the old timers that I worked with knew of this lady, and knew that she had used this phone since the 20s or 30s.  I know this story doesn't really tie in with the gist of this topic, but it is an interesting story just the same.  Early exposure to all these interesting old telephones is what got me started collecting old phones. 

[newenglandhistorywalks]

I have encountered a few intact antique telephones at historic house museums in the past - two examples that come to mind are the Skolfield-Whittier House in Brunswick, Maine (http://pejepscothistorical.org/visiting-us/swh) and the Gibson House in Boston, Mass. (http://www.thegibsonhouse.org/).  I believe the phone at the Skolfield House was a WE 500 that still rang in the house, but the one in the Gibson House was some sort of wall-mounted, wooden-cabinet non-dial phone that still rang in the hallway whenever someone called the museum (they answered the phone line in the office upstairs).  I witnessed both of these around ten years ago, so I'm not sure if the phones are still in use.  I should email the Gibson House to ask more about their phone.  I would imagine that other house museums out there might still have working phones as well, especially in cases where the owner lived in the house up until the time it became a museum.

-Bjorn
Portland, ME
http://telephones.newenglandhistorywalks.com/