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From Maggie C – Mr. Pop – I’m retired and remember a time when you needed a telephone operator to make or place a call. My question – when could you direct dial a long-distance phone #? Was it the 1960’s?

Mr. Pop History – This was phased-in over time. But - believe or not – the first direct-dial system was put into place way back – on November 10, 1951 in Englewood, NJ. Then Mayor M. Leslie Denning dialed the just-introduced three-digit area code and seven-digit number of the Town Hall in Alameda, California – and in just 18 seconds – was talking to another mayor. This was a big, big deal. Very modern. By 1965 – that system grew to include 90% of all phones in the country. By the mid-1970’s – virtually all 149 million telephones being used had direct long distance dialing.