We Haven't Had A Telephone Thread For A Long Time

[a440]

Michael I would love to have toured the building by your home in it's busy day.  I bet it was the switching station for your entire area within 40+ miles.  I toured one in New Orleans once and it was so loud from all of the mechanical switching you had to wear ear plugs.  Even with the plugs in it was still loud.

I know they do use "switching" today, but I don't think there is any "mechanical switching" used today.

Below is a fun 1951 Bell Systems video on how it all worked.  It was designed for Employee Training. 

 

 

[ea56]

When I first went to work for PT&T in July 1976 as part of my orientation I was taken on a tour of the switching rooms. It was really quite amazing. They showed me a call originating in the equipment and l followed it through the banks of switching equipment. And it was very loud as I recall. The building that I worked in was 6 stories high, all concrete, no windows and was supposed to be able to withstand a nuclear blast. Thankfully it has never been put to the test. It was considered to be a Civil Defense facility. The Directory Assistance office was on the 6th floor, the Toll office with the swithboards was on the 1st floor and floors 2 thru 5 were devoted to switching and other equipment. This building has been vacant now for several years now that everything has gone digital and computerized. The city of Santa Rosa now owns it and has talked of turning it into a museum.