(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

o/t telephone party line

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
was talking to my son the other day he was complaining his cell phone doesn't have service all the time,told him you dont know how good you have it,told him we had the party line while growing up.of course he said party line? I told him if we wanted to use the phone,we usally had to wait for ethel , gertude bertha and all the rest of the gossiping old lady's to get off the phone,needless to say he didn't beleive me.until he talk to gramma.
 
We never had one, but my friend shared with 7 other houses. The old bats would have prearranged gossip meetings on the phone. Then, when you would get them off so you could call, you'd hear them listening in.


Dave
 
I remember the party line, our ring was one long two short. When you were on the phone after a couple of minutes there was a click and you would know the old lady down the road was listening in on your conversation.
 
It does seem we have passed the sweet spot in communications tho - between the party line & the cell phone, we had some real good phone service for a fair price.

Now it costs an arm & a leg for hit & miss grabled communications, with 500 different 'plans' to follow.

We seem to pay more for poorer service.

Same with TV, can't even find anything to watch right now, it is all infomercials, each channel seems to only have 2 hours of actual show to choose from, so what if you get 70 channels, it's not as good as back when we had 6 channels that all had something on! That was free, now we pay $60 a month for no more worthwhile content.

--->Paul
 
used to mention 2 or 3 names you could hear em hang up. forgot about the fun of starting rumors let mrs. busybody hear it and see how long it took to spread.
 
Yep the kids today dont know how it was back in the (olden days) I was born in the late 60's.
Video games didnt really come out until 1980, most phones were dial and ma bell was the only company out there. Cars were rear wheel drive, with bad warranties, Everyone shoveled snow, no snow throwers that I remember in the 70's.
How many of us remember the metal ice trays with the flip lever to break the ice loose? Did your mom or grandma have a wringer to put the clothes in before the dryer, or just hang the clothes up to dry with no dryer? What about aluminum siding on houses, no vinyl. I didnt have a helmet when I rode my bike, no kid did. And a computer was a large behemoth that sat in a university or in the pentagon.
 
I remember party lines. All you have talked in past tense. I there still any party lines?
 
Other than church on Sunday that was the only social thing in their lives.

My mom used to complain, but she would always listen in on others. When you were on the phone you could hear more clicks than a typewriter makes as everyone listened in.

South of here in the 80's a small isolated telephone company had thirteen on one line, but they got along pretty well. If you needed the phone to sell hogs, you just broke in and told them about how long you would be.

We had crank phones at one place as a child, and we thought we had the world by the tail.

I have heard of putting the ear piece tight infront of the mouth part and cranking the phone if you wanted to brake ear drums.

If you wanted to invite every neighbor to a party, or if you needed help, you just started cranking for a long time to alert everyone.

Kids in those days had absolutly no business on the phone, just was not allowed.

To bad telemarketers aren't forced to use the old crank phones.

My youngest, now 18 had no idea at age ten how to use the rotary dial phones. Want to challenge him on the cell phone options now?
 
Not likely. I work for THE phone company. I've seen some left over parts from the party line days, but early 80's was the last of the actual lines in VERY rural Kentucky. If I were a gamblin' man I'd bet that they were some of the last in the country.

As far as being past the "Sweet Spot" in communications, you can thank Ma Bell's management, this compnay makes money in spite of itself.

Casey
 
New guy came to work that talks a blue streak all the time. I was telling daughter about him and said Doctor must have made a mistake and used a phonograph needle to give him is vaccination. Granddaughter overheard and ask what is a phonograph needle?
 
I don't think there are any left. The demand foe newer and better (sometimes) equipment and services done away with the old party lines. Some times the rural magneto party line could be used to call eveyone to a fire. You had to get the old ladies to hang up as the bell would not ring if a reciever was lifted. One loooong ring and all parties would pick up to here what the emergency was and where. When I retired from Michigan Bell all party lines were gone.
John
 
Hasn't been that long ago has it? I remember going up the road and taking right ahold of my cousins husband because he was harassing my wife and wouldn't get off of it so she could use it. GOOD TIMES!
 
I remember party lines, although we lived in town and had a private line, everyone in the country had party lines. I also remember crank phones and having the operator connect you.

My dad used to tell about how, back in the late forties, the old German women on his party line would speak German to stop eavesdropping. He and his cousin had both been in Japan after the war, so they took to using Japanese on the phone!
 
I was working at an old ladies house 2-3 years ago here in central New York, and she still had a party line. Her son's dairy farm is 1/4 down the road on one side of her, and her daughter lives next door on the other side. All three homes are on the same party line and each has a code they use to make outgoing calls.
 
It has to be a different set up than the old party lines. Probably similar to what we call a DPA or an off premise extension. One of the housees has the main line while the other have an extension. The new(installed in the last 15 years or so) 5ESS switches in central offices won't/can't do a traditional party line.
 
I remember my sister telling her kids how she remember playing LPs and 45. Her kids thought they were weapons.
 
Still have party lines here in rural New York. I called Verizon awhile back trying to get wiring information on using some old phones that had once been on party lines. Found out that right now, Verizon still has over 6000 customers in this area on party lines. No new accounts can get a party line; they are just letting the old accounts die off or upgrade.

Funny thing is, sometimes old tech is better than new tech. I was trying to get a phone that would work in an unheated building. Found out that just about all push button phones will NOT work in extreme cold. That because they use gel-switches in the buttons. I called the phone company, and the first thing they told me is - they are no longer in the "phone" business; just the wires - when it comes to household phones. But, I finally got hold of an engineer and found that that ALL the old phones worked fine in cold. That includes all the rotaries and the first push button phones that had mechancial push-button switches (like the old Princess phones). Now, if you want to buy a mechanically swithed phone, they cost a fortune (it's what's used in outdoor phone booths).

I have a bunch of old phones from this area, but all had been on party lines and there is internal wiring that has to be swapped to make them work on regular lines.
 
Verizon told me they still have 6000 party lines, but do not offer them to new accounts. Just waiting for the old ones to die off. There are still several in my town, but usually just some of the old people - usually farm families.
 
I'm 84 now, and telephone service now is just great! I went thru all of the above, with party lines and all. As a kid, i wasn't allowed to use the phone, except to call a relative who might live too far away, to thank them for a gift.
After i grew up, and before i got married and moved to my own home, the phone at our home would ring, and we'd answer it, but nobody would say anything, just sit there, breathing into the phone--then after several minutes, they'd hang up. Found out some years later it had been a jilted girl friend, doing a bit of payback.
After marriage, and our move away from town, we bought a house, with a party line. Whenever it rang, somebody else would pick up their phone and listen in--we could hear breathing. My wife-bless her heart--finally blew a police whistle into the listener's ears, and that crap stopped suddenly!
I sure like the new phones! Carry one on my belt, in a little case. What sound does it make when it rings? Why, a rooster crowing--what else!
 
I have an old wall crank phone in my shop, Monarch brand. Took out the old original batteries and magnets and installed the guts from a "new" rotary phone years ago, then hooked it up to my phone line.
Now when my modern phone rings, the old wall phone starts to ring the "clapper" against the two bells on top and makes a real racket....can hear it over running elec. motors. Fun to see visiting farmers look at that phone when it"s ringing. I can lift up the receiver, put it to my ear, and speak into the big speaker and have a conversation just like grandma did.
If I feel like it, I just open the front and dial a phone number to talk to someone...and the quality of the call is much better than my throwaway phone. Progress.
LA in WI

PS Our ring years ago on the party line was two shorts. Neighbor had four shorts, another neighbor 1 short, 2 longs.

PPS Dad would get a call from a buddy organizing a card game for that night, Dad would say "Bring a pint along" meaning bring a pint of cream with him for coffee. The old biddies thought the "pint" was booze. Bet that got them to clucking!

PPPS "Bringing a pint along". Dairy farmers used a cream separator and we loved that rich cream for coffee and for making homemade ice cream...in the winter using big ice cycles hanging from the roofs.
 
I can remember party lines, my grandmother had a place, barn and 20 acres up in the mountains closer to Mass. & they all had party lines until the 70's.

That and the phone numbers with letters, there is an old store, right on main road here that still has the old letter and numbers on there sign, used to a small grocery, couple of old timers still run it, but sell produce, and seasonal things.

Here in this town, I am not sure when the party lines were changed over, had to be in the 60's. Can remember talking with the operator as a kid, and or being shy to talk to someone who called, when I was real young. I can remember the pranksters, that was popular, my mother had a referee whistle next to the phone, tried to deafen em up, one time it was a friend... oops.

We used to pull some pranks, usually business's won't say what we did, mostly strange but humorous requests, we did it so well, people believed us, that was good clean fun, many times we'd get the people on the other end stunned a bit, laughing, buying into our program, a scant few would get ticked off, but it was rare for a hang up. Nothing obscene or really out of line, just some imaginative humor, by a couple of kids that enjoyed humor to no end, boy did we laugh and have fun, so did some of our victims now if we only recorded these. No *67 in those days you were anonymous. The phone system fascinated me as a kid, I used to fool with old phones and find places to hook into the system, learned my way around interconnection cabinets, was kind of fun, kinda like the linemen, they could drop in on you at anytime, when working on the lines. I soon realized that if you needed to get connected in an emergency, was not that hard at all. A lot of the old linemen said they really screwed up the works when that anti-trust-monopoly thing happened in '83-'84.
 
We were on a party line back in Nebraska, with 8 families on it. It was advanced enuf that in theory no one else on the line had their phone ring, but not entirely true. It would usually make all the phones "ding" when a call came for any. Also, regarding the old dial phones, you had to "help" the dial return if the phone was too cold, which would sometimes result in a misdialed number. DOUG
 
We had a two-party line when we built our house in 1973. Wife was nursing director at the hospital and on-call a lot, so we got one of the first private lines around here, cost about $2 a month extra. As a kid I remember our number was 1061X, and we could call anyone in our exchange by just dialing the last four digits of the number. Everybody was upset when we had to start dialing all 7 digits, took way too long to call anybody.
Paul
 
All you younguns have forgotten the main ingredient in the old time party line phones THE OPERATOR. You just gave the phone a crank (latter on you just jiggled to earpiece hook) and tell who you wanted to talk to. That simple. She would even break in one some of the conversation saying so-and so need the phone for emergency or business cal. Thats how it was in the 30's in Ohio. thats my story and I sticking to it Henry
 
Yup--same here in northern NY--my parents and grandparents had one up until a very few years ago when we convinced them to get separate systems, but there are still a few around. Came in handy quite a few times--if a call came to either house late at night, both would listen in, as it was apt to be important.
 
and i though i was a young sprout tell i find out the late 60s was olden time dam gun your just bearly outa dipers. lol
 
We also had an 8 party line. When I was around 6 years old, I'd listen in real quiet, and after a minute or two my Aunt Jose would say...."hang up the phone Larry"! I never figured out how She always knew it was me!
 
We had an eight party line. Remember what a hassle it was to make a long distance call. A long distance call usually meant someone was sick or had died.
 
We shared a party line up until the early 80's I think. We were the last to concede and they finally told ma and pa they can't have a party line and be the only ones on it. I remember as a little turd trying to listen in once in a while(I was very young. My ma always caught me and following the "SMACK" said quit "rubbering"????
 
I have an old metal thermometer, handed out by a meat locker co. here. It used to hang in my Grandparents' porch. It says on it "PHONE 93."
There wasn't much privacy back then, either, was there? Mark SW Wis.
 
Our old phone number was 11F2. Line 11, two short rings. One thing that growing up on a party line did was make you realize that someone was almost surely listening in on any conversation. Therefore you did not say anything that you wanted to keep private. In some ways, it was like email is now, which should go by the addage "Don't put anything in an email that you don't want to appear on the front page of a newspaper!!"
 
The last time I used a party line I was out in the desert, Az. I think on Interstate10 in 1988. When we pulled into the truckstop I heard a 318 Detroit Diesel engine on a load and the sound was a constant volume. Turned out they were making their own electric power. Went to call home collect. It was an old party line and about 30 days we later got a bill in the mail from that little phone co. Armand
 
Well, I did a little research, and it appears that my "old" Bell company was a little bit ahead of the curve. Apparently they did away with party lines in the late 80's or early 90's as part of a transition to the new digital 5ESS switches. I'd really hate to see those old central offices where you guys live...
 
anyone remeber the old rotary phones on party lines that had the duall plungers ? in-laws had one when me & wifey were courtin ( hell had it until a couple years ago ) you could lift handset off cradle & i plunger came up on spring so you could hear if you wanted to be able to speak you had to pull the other plunger up manually so if you left that one down you could listen to the other partys conversation but they could not tell you were on the phone !!!! gotta say before satellite tv & internet it was the only source of entertainment for these old farm folks, gettin the gossip on all the neihbors
bob
 
we still have a party line here in UpState NY.. there are two on the party line. had it for years , and the only time there is ever someone else on it is in the summer time weekends ( the other party is at a lake cottage used in the summer only) The phone company has been after us for years to give it up for a private line but at $3.50 a month I don't think so...


JIM
 
The family has what was called a 'Centrex' years ago. It's provided by the Fone Company’s switch for small businesses which don't want to go the expense of a full PBX.
I was on a party line in 1969-1973 because the company was preparing to install a new switch and didn't want to buy new trunk units to replace the old two party units. I think there was never another party on the other side.
 
My kids came home from school last week and said they were asking the teacher what the alphabet letters on the phone were for before you could text message. The teacher is too young too remember rotary phones so she only could say that the letters were for when a phone number had directions to prompt you through. I asked my kids what did the letters do on a rotary phone. Most phone exchanges started with the old two letter series with 5 digits. ours was PL5, or Pleasant 5. Then our exchange went to 777. I remember my older sisters and their friends coming home from school and spinning that rotary so fast. They would never wait for the dial to return to start they would spin a 7 and force that dial back and spin another 7 and so on. You would swaer that dial was gonna overheat.
When my folks built theor new house in 67 my mom had a second phone installed in ther bedroom. She told me to never tell anyone we had two phones because then they would think we were rich.
 
When did you retire? We had a party line from Ma Bell at our house in Oceana County MI till '85. Old number was 894 9485 and we knew what the 4 digit number was for each house if we wanted to call any of the 7 other people on our line.
 
I remember party lines when I was growing up also. Each party had a distinctive ring to answer their calls. Sometimes people would pick up and listen to your conversation.
 
Early days of our dairy farm, before I learned to do AI, had to call in by 10 AM for the local breeder for service that day. Neighbor had to call each daughter each day, then discuss what each said, with the next one. One day I picked up the barn phone, heard the neighbor tell the daughter, I"ll call you when I get to the house.! Couldn"t be separate for five minutes. About that time I bought 5 CB radios for tractors, learned that if I key the mike on the base unit in the house, when she was on the phone, it made a skreech! She thought the phone line had problems, and she would hang up. Then I could call the breeder, and do MY stuff for the rest of the day.
 
The party line was the orginal 911. Ifyou an emergency put out a line ring and the neighbor came from a direction.
gitrib
 
I remember the party lines very well.There were two old sisters who would talk for hours to each other. I would listen to them talk about nothing. Soon one would say I think someone is listening I can hear them breathing. I would hang up very carefully. Our number was 4509. For some reason I can still remember that number, My friend was 6803. The good old days. That was in the 50's stan
 
I remember that and the first phones we had didnt have a dial,you picked up the reciever and the operator asked who you wanted to call or their number.About any time you picked up the phone in the daytime there was some old ladys on it gossiping about everybody.
 
A long and a pair of shorts. Neighbor just had a pair of shorts. On the other 1/2 of the party line we would only hear a brief nuisance ring when either of them received a call.
Long distance calls were a luxury and reserved for mostly weddings and funerals.
Always used the numbers here. Always wondered what the old timers did with the letters on the phone dial.
 
mine was 2 short rings. Friend of mine had bunch of sisters as the other 3 on his party line & they didn't think they needed to give up the phone unless someone died. Then only briefly did they relent. When he needed to make a call to town & he'd pick up the phone & hear them, he just hung up & got in his pickup & drove 20 miles to town; it was faster than waiting for it.
 
When I was a kid, the beginning part of phone numbers was a word, not numbers. Don't know why, it was just way things were done. Early 50s, our phone number was Lowell 9 - 8947 - which was acuatlly 569-8947. The "LO" in lowell took the place of the first two numbers of 5 and 6.
 
if I remember right, only need to switch one wire inside the phone between the old ATT party line and non-party line phones.
 
We had the usual lollygaggers on our party line- when dad wanted to make a call, he'd pick up phone, then hang up. Wait 30 seconds, pick it up again, etc., After 3 or so repetitions, they'd hang up. In an emergency, he'd just say, "Everybody hang up, I've got to call the vet." Immediate clicks from everybody. Our phone was BR 3-5261, but grandma lived in a small town without dial service- you called the operator, and gave her the number. Her number was 96X.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
460 Farmall Carb issue
Replies
6
Views
544
dhermesc
D
Ultradog MN
Mrs. Gustufson
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
steve_in_mo
S
B
Anyone remember this below. . .
Replies
5
Views
822
Logan in S.E. Texas
L
J
Tractor book review
Replies
1
Views
824
swindave
S
R
Sold the tractors, he wont send a check! (long)
2 3
Replies
56
Views
3K
Clarence Slydell
C
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top