Jekyll Island in Glynn County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)

First Transcontinental Call

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 18, 2009

1. First Transcontinental Call Marker

Inscription. First Transcontinental Telephone call was submitted by a telephone of this type January 25, 1915. Mr. Theodore N. Vail, President American Telephone and Telegraph Company talked from Jekyll Island, Georgia to Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone in New York; Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Mr. Bell in San Francisco; and to President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C.

Erected 1965 by Dixie Chapter Telephone Pioneers of America.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Communications • Government & Politics • Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the Former U.S. Presidents: #28 Woodrow Wilson series list. A significant historical month for this entry is January 1874.

Location. 31° 3.471′ N, 81° 25.341′ W. Marker is on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in Glynn County. Marker is on Riverview Dr., on the right when traveling north. Across the lawn, South of Jekyll Island Clubhouse and across the street east of the Jekyll Island Club wharf parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Jekyll Island GA 31527, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Sans Souci (within shouting distance of this marker); The Club Wharf (within shouting distance of this marker); The Clubhouse (about

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300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Jekyll Island Club Wharf (about 300 feet away); Fairbank Cottage Site (about 400 feet away); Men of Means (about 400 feet away); All Work and No Play (about 400 feet away); Sans Souci Boiler House (about 500 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Jekyll Island.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 18, 2009

2. First Transcontinental Call Marker

First Transcontinental Call Marker, South of Jekyll Island Clubhouse, in background image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, March 18, 2009

3. First Transcontinental Call Marker, South of Jekyll Island Clubhouse, in background

First Transcontinental Call image. Click for full size.

Photo Courtesy Jekyll Island Museum

4. First Transcontinental Call

Seated inside a parlor at Georgia’s legendary Jekyll Island Club, A.T.&T. President Theodore N. Vail (far right) participates in America’s first transcontinental telephone call, on Jan. 25, 1915. Also attending the historic communications event on Jekyll Island are (left to right) noted American architects William Welles Bosworth and Samuel Breck Parkman Trowbridge and Jekyll Island Club members J.P. Morgan, Jr. and William Rockefeller. Vail’s telephone party line includes U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C.; telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, in New York; and Bell’s assistant, Thomas A. Watson, in San Francisco.

Credits. This page was last revised on January 25, 2021. It was originally submitted on May 1, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,771 times since then and 35 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on May 1, 2009, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 4. submitted on April 2, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.