Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.COM (05/19/88)
Someone started a discussion about the names for telephone exchanges long ago. Here are the ones I remember in Chicago. I am sure there are some I have forgotten. To find the modern day equivilent, swap the first three letters for numbers. In cases where there are two letters and a number at the end, this is a prefix which started after 1946 but prior to 1960 when all number calling began phasing in. AMBassador ANDover ARDmore AUStin AVEnue BAyport-1 BITtersweet BRIargate BOUlevard BIShop BUckingham-1 CALumet CANal CAThedral CENtral DEArborn DIVersey DRExel DORchester DANube EDGewater ESTebrook EAStgate FAIrfax FINancial FRAnklin GRAceland GUNderson HARrison HAymarket-1 HILltop HOLlycourt HUDson HUMboldt HYDe Park INTerocean INDependence IRVing JUNiper KEDzie KILdare LAFayette LAKeview LIncoln-9 LUDlow MAJestic MIChigan MIDway MItchell-6 MULberry MUseum-4 MERrimac NARaganset NEVada NEWcastle NATional NORmal OAKland OPEra (later ORchard-3) OVerhill PALisaides PENsacola PORtsmouth PROspect PULlman RADcliffe RANdolph RAVenswood REgent-1 ROAnoke RODney ROGers Park SAGinaw SPAulding SEEley SPRing SHEldrake STAte SOUth Chicago TRIangle TUXedo UNDerhill UPTown SUNnyside SUPerior VICtory TUXedo BELmont STEwart TAYlor DELaware LOngbeach-1 KENwood ENGlewood These are the ones I can remember. I am sure I missed some. All these were in the city proper as I recall. I added some on the bottom of the list rather than go back and insert them where they belonged. The only names that still remain are the offices which are now switching centers with several prefixes grouped together in them. The ones that come to mind from the above list are Kedzie, Franklin, Mitchell, Wabash, Rogers Park, Edgewater, Hyde Park, Superior, and Kenwood. There are switching centers which did not even exist when we used exchange names rather than numbers, such as Lakeshore, and Illinois-Dearborn (named for the intersection it is on). Some special service prefix names then are unrelated to their numbers now -- FIRe (347), POLice (765), OFFicial (then used for telco business offices) is now 633 and not related in any way. WEAther (932) used to get the forecast. The oldest central office in Chicago is 236. It began in 1879 as 'the central', and when a second exchange was started within a year or two later it became 'Central'. With the advent of automatic dialing, it became CENtral. Later it was CE-6, and for twenty five years now, 236. There were a bunch of exchange names in the suburbs. I could not begin to remember or name them all. UNIversity, DAVis, GREenleaf, EUClid, FORrest, TOrrence-2, GRAnite, ORChard, VANderbilt, TIlden-4, and IDLewild come to mind. The conversion to dial began in 1939, and the existing exchanges took their first three letters for dialing. Where there were duplicates, they were eliminated. With about half of Chicago converted to automatic dialing in 1942, the war effort suspended further conversions until 1946 because the Western Electric Company was doing entirely war related production. The conversion resumed in 1946 and was finished with the final subscribers cut over in 1951 in the AVEnue central office. Ohare Airport opened a few months later, and used an ORChard exchange for a while (Ohare used to be known as Orchard Field). The ORChard numbers all eventually went to Skokie, IL and Ohare took "686-xxxx" numbers. The change to all number prefixes began in 1960, but the letters and numbers were used interchangeably until about 10 years ago when more and more prefixes were being opened which never had a name in the first place. Now it is quite rare that you see a telephone number referred to in that way. All during the conversion from manual to dial, the operators were scared to death they would lose their jobs. The union fueled those rumors in part. Bell kept saying no one would lose their job -- and no one did. When Ohare Airport opened, six months or so following the final dial conversion, there were more operators handling calls in the AVEnue office from people dialing '0' then there had been *before* the conversion when everything was manual.