[Archive]

Posted By: Hal Lewis

I agree.

Jay:

Here is the PROBLEM with trying to DATE the phone number by the "digit" count:

Once they EXPANDED to 4 and then 5 digits... your number REMAINED whatever it was.

In other words, if your phone number in Louisville was "22" in 1888... then it remained "22" even when other people were being assigned "4563".

Here is proof of this:

The 1911 City Directory for G. Henry Reccius:

http://distantcousin.com/Directories/KY/Louisville/1911/Pages.asp?Page=0964

Scroll down and the ad at the bottom has a 4 digit phone number.

BUT...

here is another page from the same 1911 directory, and this ad has a 3 digit phone number at the bottom of the page:

http://distantcousin.com/Directories/KY/Louisville/1911/Pages.asp?Page=0087

If I look further, I could probably even find a 2 digit phone number still being used in 1911...

and if I found a 5 digit number, it wouldn't tell us anything since Reccius would have kept his 4 digit one.