How many used......

[Rescued One]

I was very young, too, when there were party lines.
What a funny thing, huh? How many would like a party line today? lol!

With a party line, you had to wait for the other party to hang up before you could use the phone.
Sometimes you'd have to ask the other party to hang up, so that you could make your call.
Don't know when they did away with them ... but I think it was a good idea!

Note: I think we do sort of still have party lines today ...
as our calls can apparently be monitored by the government, law enforcement, etc ...
but at least it's not our nextdoor neighbor listening to our conversations.
(Least I don't think so!?? lol!)

I don't know why my mother and stepfather had a phone unless it was in case of an emergency that never happened. They had no friends and didn't want any.

 

[Aussie Pete]

this type of phone once upon a time?

View attachment 340584

Sure did. I'm old enough to know that two tins connected with a piece of string works just fine too.

 

[Rescued One]

I still got one of these. It works fine too...1942 bakerlite

View attachment 340635

Bakerlite or barkerlite?

 

[Lost4words]

Bakerlite or barkerlite?

Woof!

 

[BPPLEE]

this type of phone once upon a time?

View attachment 340584

When my son was very young we were at my Mother’s house and he and a friend went to call someone. It took some time so I went to see what they were doing and they were just staring at the phone. It was a rotary dial and they had no idea how to use it.

 

[Rescued One]

When my son was very young we were at my Mother’s house and he and a friend went to call someone. It took some time so I went to see what they were doing and they were just staring at the phone. It was a rotary dial and they had no idea how to use it.

OH, YES!

 

[FreeinChrist]

My grandpa was a telephone line man (Southwest Bell) from about 1920 on till he retired in 1965. He kept some of the old phones and fixed one so it would work with more modern wiring. It looked like this one.

My brother had it wired up in the garage where he kept his antigues - like old signs and gas pumps like:

He had a lot of fun with it.

 

[rocknanchor]

Yep. With the very long cord that got stretched beyond recognition.

Yes, my next-door neighbor friend had one long enough to go to every room in the house, what ever it took to keep the girls on the line.

 

[Rescued One]

My parents-in-law who were born after the turn of the century apparently had a phone like the one FreeinChrist posted. They were my grandparents' ages. My grandparents loved the most modern inventions on the planet and moved to Florida around 1949. I fell in love with antiques before I married. I think my interest started when I was reading illustrated children's books. My parents didn't care for antiques at all.

 

[godisagardener]

And who remembers party lines?

My grandparents had a party line. On the one hand they hated it. On the other hand, it was a great way to catch up on gossip! Hard to imagine in today's world -- having one rotary telephone and a party line! Today's generation would find it difficult to survive if cell phone service collapsed. We still have an old rotary phone somewhere and the house is till wired, so..... Those were still the best days.

My parents had a party line when I was small. My dad received calls at all hours of the night to report to the missile range at the AF base in Minot, ND. My mom told me that many times they couldn't get through to him because people were on the line, so they ended up giving us a personal line!

 

[rebornfree]

Today's generation would find it difficult to survive if cell phone service collapsed.

I find this song by Shirley Serban (who is generation X but acting a gen Y or is it Z?) very funny regarding the younger generations:

As a Baby Boomer I identify with her Mum :

She has written new lyrics and sung some very amusing songs (and some serious ones) to keep our spirits up during the pandemic. Someone posted her Bohemian Catsody on GE some time ago which is how I found her. Her You Tube page is worth checking if you want a laugh.