Can anybody remember party lines and before dial tone?

For some screwball reason while going to sleep last night a number popped into my mind 4161J, it was the phone number we had nearly 70 years ago. My XW in the early 60s was talking to a neighbor about another neighbor who was eavesdropping. Boy did the stuff hit the fan that day. Looking back after being happily remarried for 44 years, it was pretty funny.

 

I remember party lines. And yes a lot of arguments and fueds were begun because of them !

 

Yes I remember. And I also have in my Kitchen. Antique oak crank phone.

 

The party line was my grandmother's version of the internet. She would sit for hours, literally, listening to who was telling whom what. Then of course she had to call several people to "report."
My oldest sister had absolutely no secrets from my parents. Every time she used the phone grandma took notes and told all!

 

I remember those days.

 

I remember that my job on Sat morning was to dust the telephone stand along with the dining room furniture before I could listen to Buster Brown on the radio.

 

We still had one in the 70's. I remember the neighbor ALWAYS listened in. She knew everything, evidently.

 

We had a party line at the cottage until the mid 80's just because it was cheaper. By the time I was old enough to figure out to listen in, no one else had a party line anymore!

 

We had a 7 party line. My mom used to sit on the phone for hours, ease dropping. I didn't know that, back then. I was just little. I remember the stories about one neighbor visiting a lady neighbor after her hubby went to work. They got caught all the neighbors heard them visiting on the phone and told the partners.

It was the talk of the neighborhood.

 

I remember those but never talked on one, not old enough.

 

Remember party lines, too. We had the only phone in the neighborhood, so neighbor's calls came to us. Had to run across or down the street to 'fetch' folks when they had calls.

Because of the party line, we children only answered the phone when it had 'our ring', so don't recall eavesdropping. When we placed a call, we always prefaced the conversation by "May I speak with..." instead of today's, "Who's this?" or "Is Derrick there?"

In the early 50s, our number was 8458, then 8-8458, then WA (Waverly) 8458 and finally 928-8458. Somewhat later an area code was added...the evolution of phones. We had the same phone until a hurricane destroyed it in 1979.

 

I remember them. When I moved to my current home in the late 80s, this neighborhood STILL had 10 party party lines. It seemed like each family had several teenagers and they hogged the phone line endlessly. Even if someone was sick, they would not relinquish the line. The kids were very rude. It took TWO YEARS to get my private line back after I moved here.

ALSO, when my late husband was sick with cancer, his folks had a party line and the little old ladies listened in all the time. We TOLD them how RUDE and horrid they were, but it did not matter to them. There were times when we could not even get the line for emergency calls when he was so sick. His folks got the phone company to put in a special line for them.

I hate party lines!

 

Okkkkk... Who was Lily Tomlin?