The Port in Cambridge in Middlesex County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
First Long-Distance Phone Call
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, November 19, 2011
1. First Long-Distance Phone Call Marker
Erected 1961 by North Council Thomas Sherwin Chapter Telephone Pioneers of America.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Communications • Industry & Commerce. A significant historical date for this entry is October 9, 1876.
Location. 42° 21.782′ N, 71° 5.716′ W. Marker is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in Middlesex County. It is in The Port. It is at the intersection of Main Street and Osborne Street, on the right when traveling east on Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 710 Main Street, Cambridge MA 02139, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Historic Boston and specifically in Greater Boston. It is also in the American Northeast and in New England. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Davenport Car Manufactory (here, next to this marker); 'The Area 4 Story' (approx. Ό mile away); William Wells Brown (approx. 0.3 miles away); Francis P. Soucie Square (approx. 0.3 miles away); Lunsford Lane (approx. 0.4 miles away); J. Milton Clarke 1820 - 1902 / Lewis Clarke 1818 - 1897
this page online
More about this marker. Thomas G. Watson in the inscription seems to be a typo for Thomas A. Watson.
Regarding First Long-Distance Phone Call. Coming just seven months after their first transmission of speech over a wire, this long distance experiment attracted wide notice. For example, on Nov. 18, 1876, the Arizona Citizen (Tucson, Arizona Territory) reprinted the report of a Boston paper: Telephones were placed at either end of a telegraph line owned by th[e] Walworth Manufacturing Company, extending from their office in Boston to their factory in Cambridgeport, a distance of about two miles. The companys battery, consisting of nine Daniels cells, was removed from the circuit and another of ten carbon elements substituted. Articulate conversation then took place through the wire. The sounds, at first faint and indistinct, became suddenly loud and intelligible. Mr. Bell in Boston and Mr. Watson in Cambridge took notes of what was said and heard, and the comparison of the two records shows
Photographed by Roger W. Sinnott, November 19, 2011
2. View of Building
The marker is mounted on the corner of the old Davenport Car Manufactory building, next to the first-floor window.
Also see . . .
1. Alexander Graham Bell - Wikipedia entry. (Submitted on November 22, 2011, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts.)
2. Wikipedia entry for Long-Distance Calling. On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile (3 km) wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon [January 25, 1915] the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400-mile (5,500 km) wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent. They heard each other much more distinctly than they did in their first talk thirty-eight years ago. Quoted from the New York Times January 26, 1915. (Submitted on September 20, 2015.)
Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 9, 2015
3. Alexander Graham Bell
This c. 1895 photo of Alexander Graham Bell by an unknown photographer hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
“Inventor Alexander Graham Bell sparked a communications revolution when he patented the telephone in 1876. But Bell considered his work with the deaf to be his true calling. Born to a deaf mother and a father renowned for his work in enunciation, Bell adapted his father's work — a visual, symbolic alphabet for use in producing spoken sounds — for use in teaching speech to the deaf. He opened a teacher training school and became a leader in the education of the deaf. Bell's teaching speech to the deaf was not viewed favorably by all; many advocates thought signing was the appropriate language for the hearing-impaired.” — National Portrait Gallery
“Inventor Alexander Graham Bell sparked a communications revolution when he patented the telephone in 1876. But Bell considered his work with the deaf to be his true calling. Born to a deaf mother and a father renowned for his work in enunciation, Bell adapted his father's work — a visual, symbolic alphabet for use in producing spoken sounds — for use in teaching speech to the deaf. He opened a teacher training school and became a leader in the education of the deaf. Bell's teaching speech to the deaf was not viewed favorably by all; many advocates thought signing was the appropriate language for the hearing-impaired.” — National Portrait Gallery
Credits. This page was last revised on February 12, 2026. It was originally submitted on November 22, 2011, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts. This page has been viewed 5,133 times since then and 202 times this year. It was the Marker of the Week October 4, 2015. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on November 22, 2011, by Roger W. Sinnott of Norwell, Massachusetts. 3. submitted on October 28, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
