Dial OLive for Rochester History: When the Telephone Came to Town

The Pew Research Center estimates that 97 percent of U.S. adults now own a cell phone, and the number of cell phones in this country will soon surpass 300 million. But in late nineteenth century Rochester, it was easy to count the precise number of telephones in use. There was exactly one. The Michigan Bell telephone exchange office on Walnut Street, ca. 1940 (Courtesy of Ray Russell Postcard Collection, Rochester Hills Public Library) Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone … [Read more...]