"TELEX" is a word-combination of TELephone and EXchange.
During the early years of telephone service, communities that required more than 10,000 telephone numbers, whether dial service was available or not, utilized exchange names to distinguish identical numerics for different customers.
When dial service was introduced (typically during the period of 1910 to 1970), in such multiple exchange communities, customers would normally dial the first two or three letters of the exchange name, followed by the numeric digits.
The standard format for displaying telephone numbers that used exchange names was to capitalize the first few letters if they were dialed.
In the US, examples include:
- MUrray Hill 5-9975 (one of the Ricardos' numbers on I Love Lucy - note that the H in Hill, although not dialed, is still capitalized)
- GRamercy 5-1234 (typical North American, in New York or continent-wide after about 1950)
- BALdwin 6828 (typical urban North American before move to two-digit exchange names)
- MArket 7032 (typical urban North American six-digit phone number, phased out in 1950s)
If you had a Home Phone, up until the higher-tech "computerized" phone systems that were installed by the phone company in the 1980's and 1990's, you could still have a Telephone Exchange that could have a name. Nowadays, you might have a Phone Exchange that has a "1" or a "0" in the prefix, where there is no letters for those numbers.
Many of these Exchange Names would also help to define the Neighborhoods that they served and the people that lived there.
In this area, two of the most-common ones were
TUxedo (88x-xxxx) and DIckerson (34x-xxxx).
These Exchange Names have even made it into Popular Culture, aside from the above-named "I Love Lucy" TV Show. At least four popular songs use old telephone exchanges in their names:
- "PEnnsylvania 6-5000" (PE 6-5000), recorded by Glenn Miller,
- "BEechwood 4-5789", by The Marvelettes,
- "LOnesome 7-7203 by Hawkshaw Hawkins and
- "ECho Valley 2-6809" by The Partridge Family.
Liz Taylor (RIP) made a movie called "BUtterfield-8" in 1960.
They have also made it into Cartoons at one time or another:
PEnnsylvania 6-5000 (from the song) was later spoofed in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Transylvania 6-5000.
The Simpsons have had a phone number that started with "KL-5" anytime there was a need for a reference.
Many businesses used the Exchange Names as part of their advertising, including the Exchange Name into a 6- or 7-letter word. Some jewelry stores might use "Call Diamond, D-I-A-M-O-N-D" or a painter-supply use "P-A-I-N-T-E-R".
A lot of residents of SouthEast Michigan will remember TYler-87100....but the question nowadays would be, "What area code is that?" since there are so many of those, even here.
The Telephone Exchange Names may be a thing of the past, but maybe if you have the right combination of Numbers, you can have some fun figuring out what yours could have been.
Be Aware of your Surroundings and the
MANY muggles around at ALL HOURS
while hunting this cache.
Enjoy the hunt!