Tacoma was once a hub for western region telephone services, with a huge room of operators and switchboards at 757 Fawcett Avenue. These ladies [and later, gents] shared the handling of telephone traffic for the western states covered by the Bell Company we knew as Pacific Northwest Bell. The USA was split up into eight regions for the Bell companies of AT&T.

Switchboards were later replaced by electromagnetic switching equipment, or relays, in that building and at other Pacific Northwest Bell facilities throughout the city. There were smaller hubs, or “exchanges”, such as Fulton, Market, Broadway, Skyline and Greenfield. If you lived in the downtown Tacoma area, you most likely had a Market-7 [627] or Broadway-2 [272] exchange. Those in the Hilltop area had Fulton-3 [383], South Tacoma areas might likely be Greenfield-5 [475], or Greenfield-4 [474].  The westside of Tacoma, now University Place, was Logan-4 [564].

We shared a phone line with a neighbor in the early days. You might pick up your phone and accidentally hear a portion of a conversation between your neighbor and someone. You quickly hung up the phone out of courtesy and waited your turn. Party-lines usually only consisted of two houses on one line. We later switched to private-line service, as phone company facilities improved.  We didn’t spend our lives on the phone in those days and children were not allowed to use the phone [at least in our house]. Besides, as kids, we were usually outside playing with the other kids from sunrise until long past dark during the summer. There was no need to call them on the phone. We would never have considered it.

It was only in our teen years, when we showed responsibility, that our parents allowed us to make or take necessary calls. We still seldom used the telephone, we had direct, daily communication with our friends, and nothing was so important that it couldn’t wait until the next time we saw them.

After automatic dialing went into effect, the telephone company began raises the charges for all services that involved the assistance of operators. From directory assistance to collect calls, the rates kept going up. As kids, we had no need for any of this. We knew any use we made of the telephone probably carried with it huge charges, so we didn’t dare dial “0″.

I once got stranded on the other side of the city and needed a ride home. For the first time in my life, I had to use a pay phone to make a collect call to our house. I knew this was going to cost a lot of money. It was a hot summer day, and I was sweating even more as I gave the operator our telephone number. After a few rings, there was a strange voice on the other end of the line and the operator asked if the man would accept a collect call… He was breathless and I heard his voice crack as he accepted the charges. Then he yelled for his wife to come to the phone. There was excitement in the house as they waited to hear the voice of their son, who was stationed in Vietnam! The operator had misdialed the call or I had given the wrong number. They had a son with the same name. I apologized. They were disappointed and upset, but understood the error. I felt guilty and embarrassed. I walked home.

A lot of changes have taken place in the telephone industry over the years. Kids now monopolize the telephone, and many children have their own cell phones.  Telephone exchanges are not confined to certain areas of a city. Your Tacoma telephone number goes with you wherever you move to, if you choose to keep it as your cell phone number. And there are no operators at 757 Fawcett Avenue, only digital switching equipment.

No related posts.