Sometime in the late 40s we got our first phone. Our number in Baldwyn was 3332. The only places that were a local call was the community near Baldwyn and Tupelo. Elsewhere was long distance and needed an operator to assist with the call and record charges according to the amount of time you talked.
We had at least one technician stationed in Baldwyn to maintain the service, I believe his name was Jack Farmer. I still see his name on a mailbox south of Guntown on old US45.
How many of you can recall your phone number at that time? Later, exchange numbers had to be used; FOrest 5 for Baldwyn and VInewood 2 and others for Tupelo.
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Thanks to Milton Copeland for the old rental bill.
6 comments:
Carl, the first and only phone number we had at 318 North Third Street,, across the street from the First Christian Church, was 3121. Later it was changed to FO5-3121 and still later it was changed to 365-3121. No matter what they did to the prefix numbers, the last four digits remained the same. Mama still had that same phone number as long as she lived in Baldwyn. PS. Tom's drugstore's number was 7271.
The phone in the picture does not look like a standard Western Electric issue. My early phone number on N second st was 5711. Later changed to 5-9711 if you dialed locally. Out of town you had to dial the 365. Outside the city limits most everyone was on an eight party line. When you called some one usually several people would pickup and join in the conversation. Guntown was a privately owned telephone company. Who did they call for repairs...John Wesson.
Now that's more like it... a real Western Ele 202 Telephone.
Our number was FO5-3752, one long ring on a 4-party line.
Henderson Chevrolet was 2525. Prather Ford was 1616. Kirk Hardware was 1117. Thats all I know.
The Youngs' number was 2221 (Archie, Lunelle, Mary Joel).
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