The First Phone Call Was Made 138 Years Ago Today

It was on this day, March 10, 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell made his first phone to Watson. Speaking the now-immortal words, “Watson, come here – I want to see you.” Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland and died in Cape Breton, a part of my home province of New Scotland or better known as Nova Scotia.

Those words uttered by Bell were to his assistant in the next room. There is controversy as to whether Bell really invented the telephone, or if he was just the man with the resources and the ability to get it to the patent office and make it official.

Bell also had a hand in the invention of the record player, metal detector and other products we use today.

Back to the telephone, a lot has changed in 138 years. In the US and the western world, use of landlines has faded some over recent years with the advent of wireless and portable technology, but the telephone was certainly the “go-to” communication for a solid century.

I wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think today if he were around with texting, smart phones, pictures, data, etc. all in the palm of our hands today.

I still can remember in small towns where you could call locally with just four digits and a time when you could tell what part of the city someone was calling from just by the first three digits. You still can, but where you can keep old number and people using cell phones it certainly harder today.

So props to Alexander Graham Bell and his telephone even if maybe it wasn’t totally his invention.

So in celebration, here are a few songs about the telephone.