I was standing by the beach watching the sunset when a man (more than six feet away from me) took a call on his cell phone and carried on a personal conversation for quite a long time. He was speaking loudly to be heard over the waves, and I thought that I really didn’t want to know that much about his personal life. Then I realized that some people love to be able to eavesdrop on private calls and in the past had to rely on the party line.
A party line is a telephone line that you share with other homes. During and after World War II the lines used for telephones was expensive and not readily available. This was especially true in rural areas where the houses were far apart. Basically, a single phone line, dedicated to your home, was expensive. But if you shared that line, phone service was much more affordable. Many people could only afford to have a phone at all if it was a party line.
As is still true, affordability is sometimes inconvenient.
It was inconvenient to want to make a call and discover that someone else was on the line and you had to wait, and hope it wasn’t a long conversation. Teenagers before the age of texting actually liked talking on the phone. For hours. And hours.
Maybe someone left their phone off the hook, making it impossible for anybody else on that party line to make or receive calls. Or imagine one of the parties was not home, but someone called them and let the phone ring and ring and ring. That call rings in all the homes that share that line and they all hear that ringing.
The guy by the beach sharing his personal call? That was one of the inconveniences of party lines. Since you shared a phone line, anyone on that party line could pick up the phone and listen to your conversations. I imagine many people thought of that as a form of entertainment and a good way to learn all the latest gossip.
I don’t remember ever having a party line, probably because we usually lived in housing on military bases. But I do remember visiting my grandparents in Minnesota and being told not to answer the phone because it wasn’t their ring. People on the party line had their own rings (1 long, 2 short, etc.) so they knew when the call was for them.
Because of all the possibilities for annoyance and rudeness, some areas distributed rules of etiquette, or common courtesy, that should be followed if you had a party line. It was all about playing well with others. These included recommendations to keep your calls short, and to space them out if you were making more than one call. Don’t listen to the conversations of others as that is totally rude.
One of the most obvious courtesies in my mind is that if someone gets on the line and says they have an emergency, you should get off the phone immediately so they can place their emergency call. Unfortunately, there were people who abused that courtesy both ways. In 1954 New York passed a law that you could be prosecuted for either refusing to get off the phone for an emergency, or falsely saying you had an emergency just so you could use the phone.
The last operating party line system was shut down in 1991.
I would really love to get comments from people who had party lines. Did you personally know all the others on your party line? How many were on your party line? I want to know what my readers think are the pros and cons of the party line system. I’m sure things that would annoy me now, were not seen as issues when the party line was either your only option, or your only affordable option.
Help me out, please!
The party line was very informative.you knew all the gossip. My father was a middle age widow 45 yrs old and we were surrounded by other single or widowed ladies, two next door on both sides, one behind that starched and ironed his laundry and other married women who adored my dad.he was a railroad manager and worked out of town all the time and came home on weekends. I would pick up the phone at times and they would be talking about him and us (his children). From what I gathered from the conversations was who was he dating,a woman was over there this weekend,they all loaded up and came back the next day, I baked a cake and had one of his girls over, she cut down my rose bush where her dad parked along side the houses(that was because she hid behind the rose bush to talk with my dad about things she she thought was going on (all wrong). None never captured my dad’s heart. We all turned out good. Not without struggles, but we all did good professionally.
Sounds like you grew up in an interesting neighborhood. I’m happy that you all turned out good. Thanks so much for sharing your family’s story!
Cathy
In the late 1980s I was dispatched on a 4 party line trouble in a rural Vermont exchange. When I arrived at the customer’s home, I was greeted by a man in his late 80s who told me he had just replaced his phone with a new one from Radio Shack. There it was in the living room, a shiny Stromberg Carlson set sitting in its own little cubby hole and wired to a new jack – also from Radio Shack. It didn’t take long to realize that this new phone couldn’t be modified for party line service so I asked where the old set was. He retrieved the old rubber set from the attic and I wired it back in to the old jute inside wire. There was dial tone, but faint. I took the receiver and whacked both ends on the bottom of my boot, scaring the old guy just a bit! I handed the ‘repaired’ receiver to him and he stood there, amazed at how easily he could hear dial tone. He thanked me and then asked if I thought Radio Shack would take back the new set!!
Hi Wayne,
It’s always good to know that issues with changing technology have a storied history. I used to work in computer troubleshooting and sometimes you just have to go old school, like whacking it on a shoe!
Thanks for sharing this great story!
Cathy
I was 10 years old in 1973. Our family lived in Cleveland, Ohio and we had a party line but I don’t remember having our own special ring. My three brothers and I used to mess around with the phone and the party line but I only remember the two times I eavesdropped by myself. One time I picked up the phone and there were two elderly women talking. I had no idea who they were. Not only was I eavesdropping but I spoke up and I said to them that “I liked to drink tea with toast.” At the time our mother used to make a pot of tea and she, my three brothers and I would have a tea party at the kitchen table. Our little tea party was simply a cup of hot tea with milk in it and probably we made toast with jam or cinnamon toast. I guess I couldn’t think of anything clever to say to the ladies and I expected them to react with humor. Because I was trying to be funny. But I got a real jolt when one of them said to the other, “Did hear that nut she drinks tea with toast!” I suddenly felt dizzy, ashamed and taken aback that the old woman was mean to me. Another time I listened in to a woman and her mother having a conversation. I was 14 or 15 at the time and I was shocked at what I heard. The woman, Barbara, was a prostitute and a drug addict AND she had a pimp! Her mother encouraged her to get help. There was mention of time spent in jail, a priest who was ready to help and I caught the sense that this young woman was stuck and she could very easily end up back on the streets.
Thank you for sharing.
Cathy
Does anyone remember having a specific phone number you could dial and there would be many many people chatting together. Not just your close neighbors either.
Interesting, I’ve never heard of anything like that. I bet the subject changed quickly and often.
Thanks for reading!
Cathy
Had a part line in the 60 & early 70’s in Spring Lake Park and then Fridley. Had 2 different rings and would pick up to make a call and here someone else’s conversations.
Such a difference from out current smart phones. Technology is an amazing thing!
Thanks for sharing!
Cathy
My great grandparents, in Oklahoma wheat country, used their party line to entertain the neighbors. One played the fiddle and the other the piano. Every Saturday evening at a designated time, they would take their phone off the hook and start playing. It was very a popular and well known event.
That is so much more cool than the gossip aspect! Sounds like fun for all.
Thanks for reading!
Cathy
When I was a kid in the early 1960s in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, we used a wall telephone by the, stairs just inside the front door. Mom was always budget conscious and we had a party line. I vividly remember one day coming home from school, seeing Mom sitting on the stairs and listening in on the party line conversation held by strangers. I loudly asked Mom who she was talking to and she shushed me, saying quietly that their conversation was interesting. I was shocked but learned from her that it was okay to do so. I listened in on other calls myself a number of times but it was boring to me. So, I stopped. I was so happy when we could afford to get a private line instead.
I never lived in a really small town, but I imagine that party lines were more interesting if you knew everybody that was talking or being talked about. Then again, if they are strangers you have the mystery factor of not knowing them and being able to fill in the holes in their stories.
Thanks for reading!
Cathy