Cheri wrote:
"CWLee" wrote in message
...

Well, I guess I'm the senior geezer here. My high school girlfriend's
phone number was 5239-R. My folks didn't have a phone, but the
neighbors who had phones had 4-digit numbers, followed by a letter. I
believe the letters were some technological update to party lines on
which the operator previously gave 1 ring for party A, 2 rings for
party B, etc.

I join you in the "senior geezer" category. I really hated those party
lines though. :-)

Cheri
I grew up in small city but my family had a ranch 45 miles away. In the
3-room (plus exterior facilities) house, in the room next to the
kitchen, there was a telephone mounted on the wall. It was in a large
oak box, about two feet tall. The box contained two very large dry cells
with screw terminals and a magneto. A crank sticking out of the side of
the box was used to turn the magneto at sufficient speed to ring the
operator several miles away. You shouted (sometimes repeatedly) into the
mouthpiece the number or name to be connected to, and soon you would
hear in the earpiece the voice of the person you called, or "sorry, that
line is busy" or "sorry, nobody answered". The old magnetos from those
phones were great toys to administer shocks to people. Another lesson in
telephone history.
Allen