The Party Line

Years ago the telephone party lines were our means of communication with the outside world, and they have a long history in the culture of America.


For you history buffs, the party line was introduced by Bell Telephone in 1891 to make phones more affordable to working class families, they began to be used for various purposes in the realm of the community.

By the 1950s party lines were used widely for socializing, however, they've since faded off the American landscape as a shared service. At least by Ma Bells standards.


We didn't have cell phones, internet, facebook etc. We had a black rotary dial telephone that was connected to a phone line that was connected to the every other farm house down the road.

Sometimes six to eight families used one line, so you can imagine how hard it could be to make or recieve a call!!

My cousin Donna(Vanmeter)Hubbard, would spend time at her grandmother's and we would set a time, when we would both pick up the phone and talk without ever having to dial each other! WOW! What a concept!

You would have thought we were spies, or working for the CIA, we thought we were too cool!

Many a day I would run in the back screen door at my grandmother's to find her sitting at the desk with her hand over the receiver part of the phone, LISTENING to someone else's conversation( Pre-historic facebook!)

She would have a Marlboro Red dangling from her fingertips as she shusshed me to be quiet so know one would know she was listening!

But of course all the ladies in our rural neighborhood did the same thing, even if they would never admit to it, but come Sunday morning at the local Baptist church, everyone knew everyone else's business...

Funny, it's just like that now, except, we have FACEBOOK to listen to everyone's conversations, and come this Sunday, everyone at the local Baptist church will know everyone else's business....Funny, as much as some things change, they still stay the same!