Southern Bell Switchboard, Waynesville 1959

When the Southern Bell Telephone Company in Waynesville held an open house on Monday, May 11, 1959, visitors were able to go behind the scenes to see how their calls were routed. Operators manually connected calls by inserting phone plugs into the appropriate jack. A switch on the cord circuit allowed the operator to talk to the customer, and a light above each jack lit up when the telephone receiver was in use. Note the giant telephone in the back of the room.

Photograph courtesy of The Mountaineer

Caption courtesy of Michael Beadle, Haywood County (Images of America)