Tribute to the pay phone.
The first pay phone was designed by William Gray 1889. It was put in a Connecticut bank. Gray’s pay phone allowed callers to wait and pay after the completion of the call but in 1898 Western Electric changed the system and it required you to prepay, the system that is still in place today. By 1902, pay phones had reached such popularity that there were 81,000 installed in the United States. By 1905, the first outdoor model was installed in Cincinnati. It had a wooden structure. In fact, glass booths were not available until the 1950’s.
What was the cost to use the first pay phone? 5 cents. For many years the cost stayed at 25 cents for 4 minutes. Many of you will remember using the pay phone and having the operator break in on the conversation and asking you to deposit another quarter.
With the use of cell phones, the pay phone is a disappearing feature in American culture. Only 500,000 still exist in the United States today – a far cry from the 2.2 million in the 1990’s. Pay phones have played an interesting role in pop culture with the most famous, of course, being Superman! What’s your favorite pay phone movie moment?