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Gulfport Star Journal, Thursday. February 5, 1981 . Page 7
Ma Be//'s exchange
't started in Vicksburg
our fingenips, it's ”*n Mississippi 167 Mississippi ex-easy to forget how un- today. South Central changes. _ They're certain and insecure Bell employees are con- proud to be part of the communicating was tinuing to build and tradition of service that .100 years ago.	improve the telephone began 100 years ago
"But telephone system. that serves with 77 telephones in service as we know it 755.000 customers in Vicksburg." Kyle said, didn't just happen.
f ■
One hundred years ago, a telephone exchange began operating in Vicksburg. Jt was the First in the state -and the only recorded one for more than a , year. It opened January 10,,1881 and in its first The system we take for year has 77_telephones granted had to be built ‘ according to Franklin piece by piece, and Kyle, District Manager thousands of people for*South Central Bell. played a part in its ""For nearly 80.. growth," Kyle said, years. Vicksburg cus-	Here	on	the	coas{
• tomers ^ad t0, cal! the the first exchange opeator to place any p|aced in ficrv;c% was
type of call. Then, in
1960, dial service was
introduced and custo-
Bav St. Louis which began service in Angus!
of 1899 with 47 tele^ mer^ could place local phones fo]lowed by
calls themselves.
Three years later, Vicksburg customers could dial long distance : calls, too, when Direct Distance Dialing was introduced.	And in
1967,,. they were offered Touch-Tone dialing as an alternative to the rotary dial," Kyle said.
Today, Missis-sippians can reach around the world within seconds by dialing a few digits. With this kind of technology at
Pass Christian in Oc tober of 1899 with 30 telephones/'""*'’’*' »
1900 was a busy year in . which the Ocean Springs Central Office was constructed in May with 46 telephones, Gulfport in June 1900 with 43 telephones and the Biloxi 'exchange was purchased in May and had 111 telephones. Pascagoula and Moss Point exchange construction followed in 1904 with 251 and 137 telephones respectively.