National Landline Telephone Day

Remember the good old days when you had to leave your phone at home because it was attached to your house? Ah yes, the glory days of landline phones. This photo is of a 1950s landline rotary phone from our Mid-Century Kitchen exhibit. The first rotary phone was used in 1919, but in the Lac La Biche region, many rural families didn’t have phone service until the 1960s.

When they received service, rural families had to share their phone line with other nearby families, which was called a “party line.” Party lines provided no privacy, because you could listen in on your neighbours’ calls. Unless you wanted details of your life to become part of the gossip mill, you didn’t discuss anything private on the phone. Party lines started to be phased out in the 1980s. By this time, rotary phones were being replaced by push button phones.