Number Please, refers to early telephone operators who hand connected telephone calls.
I was trying to think of a good blog topic today when it suddenly occurred to me that I’ve not blogged about the old switchboard location in downtown Herndon.
Early Telephones
It is a little hard for anyone to try to think back when you couldn’t take your phone along with you because it was on the wall.
It was, also, a time of no telephone APP’s, no video or photographic features, and you might have to wait your turn to make a telephone call.
The location of Herndon’s telephone switchboard on Pine Street.
With early crank telephones, a number of families shared a telephone line called a party line. The switchboard operator would assign everyone a telephone ring. For instance, one person might be two long and one short ring, someone else might be assigned a long ring and four short rings. Before you answered the telephone, you had to count the rings to see if the call was for you. There were probably lots of mistakes made in picking up the phone.
With sharing a party line, if someone was on the telephone, then you would have to wait your turn until the line was free.
I remember having a two party telephone line. Not only did you have to wait your turn but anyone on the line could also pick up and listen to your conversation. You probably did not tell your secrets on the telephone unless you wanted everyone to hear about them.
Number Please and Early Switchboard
Early telephones used a switchboard and a person called a switchboard operator to connect the calls.
Switchboard operators had to manually connect everyone by plugging into the requested circuit.
In early Herndon history, I’ve seen a photograph of Alice White and Sylvia Bridges who were two of the switchboard operators who worked on Pine Street in downtown Herndon.
I’m not sure as to the age of this building but will see if I can find out a little more about it.
Making an Early Phone Call
So what would happen when you made an early phone call?
The first thing to do was to turn the crank on the side of the telephone. I’m still a little unclear as to what this did. I read somewhere that was to ring the operator and another source said it was to charge the phone.
The telephone operator would pick up and say, “Number Please . . .” and you would give her the number you were calling. She would than take your line and connect it by pushing it into the circuit of the the person you wished to talk to.
Rotary Dial Telephone
Before our present day phones, we had what was known as a rotary dial telephone. When they first came out, the only color you could get it in was basic black. Later there were a wide variety of colors and shapes.
The below photograph shows an old beige colored rotary telephone. The clear plastic insert over the phone numbers is broken. This is currently what one would call a landline.
Closing Remarks on Number Please Blog
Ring, ring, Hello? Today’s telephones play a nice musical tune when they ring. Old telephones would sound off only with a ring, ring, ring.
The Herndon Historical Society and Wikipedia were used to research today’s blog.