Celebrate Land Line Telephone Day Every March 10
March 10 is Land Line Telephone Day
On March 10 we celebrate the land line phone with Land Line Telephone Day!
Of course, it may not be long before we’re celebrating something that doesn’t exist any more.
The land line telephone was once a miracle of communication. Finally, people could talk over long distances. Receive news instantly. Keep in touch with family and friends easily.
Today we take that ability for granted.
A Word (or Two) on the Telephone’s History
The “true” inventor of the telephone is the subject of much debate. What’s more clear is that Alexander Graham Bell got the first patent for an electric telephone.
And he was the first to actually speak to another person by telephone.
Land Line Telephone Day celebrates the anniversary of that amazing achievement. It was March 10, 1876. Bell told his assistant Watson, who was in another room, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Every word came through clearly.
The world was about to get just a little smaller.
About a year later, in 1877, Bell and two investors formed the Bell Telephone Company. The phone proved popular, with 3000 telephones put into service by the end of that year. By mid-1878 there were 10,000. And the company just kept growing.
Once its patents ran out, it faced competition. And an antitrust lawsuit.
The company managed to hold on until 1983 when the government finally broke up the Bell System. It split into 7 companies, known as the “Baby Bells.”
Today many people consider the land line phone obsolete. Most households do still have land lines, but the number drops every year.
But the land line telephone is still worth remembering. After all, a lot of history would be very different without the easy communication telephones offered.
Yes, there was the telegraph, but that was better for sending news, not so good for having a conversation.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this rather retro unofficial holiday.
Celebrating Land Line Telephone Day
What can we say, if you have a land line telephone, use it!
Even if it usually just collects dust, take it for a spin today.
Take a virtual tour of a few of the exhibits at the JKL Museum of Telephony. The museum was destroyed by fire in 2015, but it’s slowly rebuilding.
You could even start your very own phone collection (yes, people do that).
Do you have any other ideas for celebrating the land line telephone?
