First Telephone Exchange

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, 1993

1. First Telephone Exchange Marker

Inscription. On September 1, 1880, Southern Bell Telephone Company established a telephone exchange on this site serving 31 telephones. This was the first exchange in Florida to have exclusive operating rights within a Florida municipality.

Erected 1964 by City of Pensacola-Pensacola Council of the Telephone Pioneers of America.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Communications. A significant historical date for this entry is September 1, 1880.

Location. Marker is missing. It was located near 30° 24.561′ N, 87° 12.851′ W. Marker was in Pensacola, Florida, in Escambia County. It was on East Government Street just east of South Palafox Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 44 East Government Street, Pensacola FL 32502, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker was on the Florida Panhandle.

It was also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

and on the Gulf Coast.

Globally, it was in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

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Historically, it found itself in what was once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: William Dudley Chipley (within shouting distance of this marker); Site of Pensacola Opera House (within shouting distance of this marker); Votes for Women (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Gen. Andrew Jackson (about 300 feet away); Trenches & Trous-de-Loup (about 300 feet away); Officer's Room and Kitchen (about 300 feet away); Gen. Andrew Jackson Residence (about 400 feet away); Finding 1821 (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pensacola.

Other markers no longer nearby. Colonial Pensacola - Archaeology Brings History to Life (was about 300 feet away but has been permanently removed); Gateway to Florida’s History (was about 400 feet away but has been permanently removed).

More about this marker. Marker was erected in front of the then Southern Bell Telephone building. It is now known as the Seville Towers.

Marker

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was reported missing in 2004 but apparently was returned to its pole sometime later. After marker went missing for the last time on or after 2007, its pole remained for a number of years. There is a 2014 photo on WayMarking.com showing the pole at that location, and some other views of the marker dated 2007. —Editor

Regarding First Telephone Exchange. The first telephone exchange in Pensacola, and subsequent ones through the 1920s were manual exchanges. Women operators sitting in front of a panel of jacks called a switchboard connected calls using short cords with plugs at both ends by pushing the plugs into jacks of the origin and destination telephone lines. For calls to other towns they plugged into to what were known as trunk lines (telephone lines between exchanges) and operators in other towns completed the call in the same manner. Calls could take a number of minutes to set up.

Back then and into the 1940s, for local and regional calls, it all worked with low voltage electrical waves traveling unaided through thin copper wires from one telephone to the other—in other words, no electronics were used to amplify the sound.

Also see . . . What telephones were like nearly 100 years ago. 2019 article by John Appleyard in his column “Pensacola History” in the Pensacola News Journal. Excerpt, quoting “an old-timer” talking about the 1920s:

"Then, early on, Dad said he’d like to try and call his brother, in Brewton. He began as before, picking up the receiver and putting a nickel in the black box. A few second later an operator, with a lovely voice, responded, and then dad gave her his brother’s name, street address and that he lived in Brewton. I could hear the operator say, ‘One moment please’ and then there was a silence of, oh, maybe two minutes. When the operator returned, she told dad that she had gotten the brother’s telephone number, and that the charge would be 35 cents. Dad then put another three dimes and one more nickel in the black box and he waited. It didn’t take too long, maybe a minute, and then, presto, there was Uncle Ned, plain to hear as you please. This long-distance business worked!"

(Submitted on August 25, 2023, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.)

Credits. This page was last revised on August 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on February 6, 2019, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 820 times since then and 77 times this year. Photo 1. submitted on February 6, 2019, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.