Cochrane history: ‘Number, please’ on new telephone exchange in 1951

More than looking at Cochrane history this week, we’re placing a call to 1951 through the local telephone operator.

In the archives at the Cochrane Public Library are several photographs from the May 15th, 1951 official opening of a state-of-the-art telephone exchange and switchboard.

Among the photos are Public Utilities Commission engineer Archie Kidd; the two technicians who installed the equipment; and the women behind the pleasant voices who said “Number, please” when you picked up your phone.  They’re all wearing new style headsets that were part of the upgrade.

Dial telephones didn’t come in until the next decade.

Some of those photos are posted here.  You can see them and thousands of other artifacts from our past at the library.  All you need is a library card and an apartment to search the archives.