A short history of telephone numbers

[HELLO CENTRAL]

Artemy Lebedev
§ 91. A short history of telephone numbers
June 18, 2002

http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/91/

The Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell is credited with speaking the first words by telephone on March 10, 1876:     "Mr. Watson —Come here—I want to see you".  To call his assistant sitting next door, Bell didn't have to dial a number: there were only two phone sets in the world at that time.
   
Several years passed. Telephone users and sets sprouted like mushrooms. City telephone networks came into being and every phone set was assigned a number. Calling a subscriber would require giving his or her number to the hello girl.