A telephone call, which for marketing purposes is claimed to be the ''first transcontinental telephone call'', occurred on January 25, 1915, a day timed to coincide with the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely se ...

celebrations. However, the transcontinental

telephone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or ot ...

was first completed on June 17, 1914, and successfully first voice tested in July 1914. A 1998 U.S. postage stamp commemorates the completion of the line in 1914.

Background

The original long-distance telephone network actually started in 1885, in New York City. By 1892 this line reached

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. After introducing loading coils in 1899, the long-distance line continued west, and by 1911 it reached

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The president of AT&T,

Theodore Vail Theodore Newton Vail (July 16, 1845 – April 16, 1920) was president of American Telephone & Telegraph between 1885 and 1889, and again from 1907 to 1919. Vail saw telephone service as a public utility and moved to consolidate telephone networks u ...

, committed the company to a transcontinental line in 1909. On June 17, 1914, after affixing of telephone line, workers raised the final pole at

Wendover, Utah Wendover is a city on the western edge of Tooele County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,115 at the 2020 census. Description Wendover is on the western border of Utah and is contiguous with West Wendover, Nevada. Interstate 80 runs ...

, actually on the border between Nevada and Utah state lines. Then,

, the president of AT&T, succeeded in transmitting his voice across the continental U.S. in July 1914. Six months later, amidst the celebrations surrounding the

, on January 25, 1915,

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

, in New York City, repeated his famous statement "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you," into the telephone, which was heard by his assistant Thomas Augustus Watson in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, for a long-distance call of . Watson replied, "It will take me five days to get there now!" The Alexander Graham Bell call officially initiated AT&T's transcontinental service. The phone call was merely symbolic. Dr. Watson was at 333 Grant Avenue in

to receive the call, placed by Bell from the Telephone Building at 15 Dey Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

and the mayors of both cities were also involved in the call as was Theodore Vail listening in from

Jekyll Island Jekyll Island is located off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, in Glynn County. It is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and run by a self-sustaining, s ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Later, President

spoke to an audience in San Francisco from

the White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

and is quoted as saying "It appeals to the imagination to speak across the continent." However, President Wilson was concerned with the "devaluation of the individual" as AT&T celebrated the achievement of the company rather than distinguishing individual inventors, contributors, and innovators.

References

External links

"Mr. Watson -- come here!"
Library of Congress. July 27, 2010.

. New York Times (reproduced article). January 26, 1915. * *{{cite book, author1=American Telephone and Telegraph Company, title=The story of a great achievement, date=1915, publisher=Bartlett-Orr press, location=New York, url=https://archive.org/details/storyofgreatachi00amerrich, access-date=9 October 2015 AT&T Bell System History of telecommunications in the United States History of engineering