  Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 604 Registered: 10-2003 |
Anybody know what business belonged to the phone number Randolph 7927, circa 1946? Probably a downtown appliance store. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3265 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ed, I'm out of town for the weekend, but I probably can have an answer for you early next week. It is a CBD phone number. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 323 Registered: 01-2007 |
Ed_golickster, forgive my ignorance on this topic, but doesn’t that number dial out to be only 6 digits? Is six all that was used back then, or is it the address? Our old phone number on Farmbrook was TU-22-471, a seven digester. Mikem? (Message edited by Bulletmagnet on April 21, 2007) | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 605 Registered: 10-2003 |
In 1946 phone numbers were six digits. The further back you go, the fewer digits were used for phone numbers. Alexander Graham Bell's phone number was 1.  | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 326 Registered: 01-2007 |
And who was 2? Why, Watson was, of course! | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 788 Registered: 12-2005 |
Randolph 1605 (Jan. 1941 advertisement for Van Boven's menswear on Adams):  Randolph 4417 (March 1942 advertisement for Rohde Insurance on Griswold):  Couldn't find anything for RA 7927. | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 1347 Registered: 01-2005 |
Had a letterhead page from my grandfather's photo studio in Wichita from 1905. Phones then only had four numbers. I suppose you had to go through an operator back then.  | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 138 Registered: 03-2005 |
Mikeg, Where did you get those advertisements? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5249 Registered: 11-2003 |
jjaba's home phone on the Westside. DAvison 2919. Later changed to DAvison 4-2919. Both were two-party lines. jjaba, Proudly Westside. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 789 Registered: 12-2005 |
I found them here, using their search function. Having a broadband connection is very helpful and Adobe Reader is a must. Once the file is downloaded, it will jump to the page where it found the search term, then just select/copy and then paste/resize/save using IrfanView or an equivalent image viewer/editor. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3266 Registered: 10-2003 |
The 6-digit to 7-digit phone number conversion happened as switching equipment in each central office was upgraded. Until the conversion was complete, six and seven digit phone numbers existed at the same time within the city for a over a decade. The first area in the city to get seven digit phone numbers was the UNiversity exchange (serving the McNichols-Livernois area) in the early 1930's. My memory is a bit hampered right now - I'll have a more definitive answer later when I sober up. If you think that's confusing, imagine having two different phone companies within the city at the same time. Larger businesses which chose to have service from both would have two different phone numbers, or if they were lucky, the same phone "number" but with two different prefixes, e.g.: Oak 1344 and Main 1344. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 4162 Registered: 08-2004 |
Bulletmagnet... we must have been neighbors... on Marseilles TUXEDO 1-3... 0pps mom still lives there, better not give out her phone number... Jjaba's Social Security Number... 124 | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 292 Registered: 12-2006 |
Actually in 1946 phone numbers were 4 to 7 digits in the US, depending on exactly where you were. The standardization to a seven-digit number within a three-digit area code took a long time; it started in the 1910s in some places and wasn't complete until the 1970s in other places. The professor once worked for a long-distance phone company and was able to read up on such things. The UNiversity exchange in Detroit; that we have some familiarity with. The U of D phone number in the 1960s and 70s was UNiversity 2-1000. If you recall the Glenn Miller Orchestra hit from the (I think) forties, "PEnnsylvania 6-5000", that was and is the telephone number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York. Try it today: (212) PE6-5000. Just don't do it all at once; those poor receptionists aren't paid THAT well. Actually, go to New York and spend the night at the Penn; they've refurbished and it is once again a nice place. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 334 Registered: 01-2007 |
Gistok,perhaps we were neighbors. Our family lived at 5241 Farmbrook from the time my grandfather built the house in the 1920's, until my brother Dave (a Detroit cop) sold it just a few years back. We had that phone number from since I could remember, until it (the house) was sold. Anyone know who has the oldest unchanged number in Detroit? | ||
Gtat44 Member Username: Gtat44 Post Number: 116 Registered: 02-2007 |
The operator "0" ha!ha! | ||
Durango Member Username: Durango Post Number: 7 Registered: 10-2006 |
Gistok, My family must have been close to yours as well. We lived on 3200 block Fullerton and our number was TU3-0544. I remember my mother having memorize the number when I was little. | ||
Oladub Member Username: Oladub Post Number: 34 Registered: 08-2006 |
Durango, are you sure you weren't a TUlsa number? I think the TUlsa and TUxedo exchanges were determined by the first number. We were TUxedo at both Three Mile Drive and Farmbrook (two blocks from Bulletmagnet). TUxedo numbers were on the far Eastside. | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 139 Registered: 03-2005 |
Is that the same Van Boven that is now located in Ann Arbor, or maybe that's the only store that survived? | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1720 Registered: 11-2003 |
I used to shop at VB on E. Adams,(late 60's) and then they moved down next to the Penobscot Building. That store eventually closed. When I was a student at Michigan, VB's was my favorite men's store in the Nichol's Arcade, and I think they are still there ( 326 S. State Street). | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 140 Registered: 03-2005 |
Regarding the "War Risk and Bombardment" insurance advertisement from above, was that typical during WWII for people to buy? Is war risk and bombardment included in insurance policies today? | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5254 Registered: 11-2003 |
Van Boven was the name of the WMU basketball coach in the 1960s. I beleive that same name was a men's store in Kalamazoo also. The Rock got his first "lawyer's suit" at Nichols Arcade. Everytime time he won a big case, he bought a case of Bonded Scotch, a box of fine Cubans, and a new suit. He moved to Grosse Pointe after he beat the DSR out of some serious money for running over a kid on a bike with the Trumbull Streetcar. The poor kid had ridden almost to Briggs Stadium to see a Tuesday day game in July from jjaba's neighborhood. jjaba, Westsider. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5255 Registered: 11-2003 |
Gistok, if you promise to put $5,000 on jjaba's Social Security number, call me and ask for it. How many do you have SS# 374-? jjaba. | ||
Durango Member Username: Durango Post Number: 9 Registered: 10-2006 |
Oladub, I spoke with my parents this afternoon and the number was TU3-0544 until the early seventies. At that time we lived on Fullerton between Dexter and Wildemire in two-family flat. | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 6937 Registered: 09-2005 |
As was discussed previously on an earlier thread, was there anything even remotely as classy in the entire country as living in the Grosse Pointes and having a number starting with "TUxedo"? Beverly Hills, eat your heart out. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3268 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ed Golick, do you have any more clues? Where did you find this phone number? What leads you to believe it belonged to an appliance store? "Appliances" was not a category in the earlier phone books. If you needed a refrigerator, you looked under "refrigerators"; stove? Under "stoves". Karl, "TUxedo" was a generic phonetic exchange name used in other parts of the country, however it certainly fit well in the Pointes when it was implemented there in 1930. Durango, Oladub is correct in that "TU3" was the TUlsa exchange, served out of the Highland Park central office. The first 7-digit phone numbers in the city were introduced with the opening of the University central office with the UNiversity-2 exchange, on May 31, 1930. (By 7-digit I mean, of course, not seven numbers, but rather the first two letters of the exchange name followed by five numbers, better described as the 2L-5N format. Other large cities in country at the time, such as Chicago and LA, used the 3L-4N format). | ||
Durango Member Username: Durango Post Number: 10 Registered: 10-2006 |
Mikem, Thanks for the clarification. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 294 Registered: 12-2006 |
The two-letter exchanges became somewhat standardized across the country, though there were local specialties. So for instance, "CEdar" for numbers starting with 23 was used all over the United States, but "EDison" was only used in a couple cities (such as Schenectady, New York, where my Mom had one of 'em) and "WOodward" was Detroit-specific. There's a web site where you can look up the old 2L names for your current exchange, if it's an old enough exchange to have had one. Can someone Google it? I'm too old to be looking up such things at twelve o'clock in the morning. Professor Scott (ROckwell 5-XXXX) | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 484 Registered: 07-2005 |
https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/6790/63149.html?11384271 56 | ||
Gtat44 Member Username: Gtat44 Post Number: 117 Registered: 02-2007 |
Karl, Your comment on GP and TUX number makes sense. But, what doesn't make a lick of sense is having a LA (lakeview) number, 371-1336 and living 4 miles from the lake. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 1982 Registered: 12-2005 |
LAkeless might have worked.  | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 1557 Registered: 02-2004 |
We were KEnwood in Old Redford. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 607 Registered: 10-2003 |
Mikem, I've got a 1946 Detroit News article, "Large Television Set Is Unpacked in a Detroit Store." The article doesn't state what store the set is displayed at, but it says that "a room in the music department is being prepared for the instrument in time for reception of the first television broadcast over WWDT." No store name, just the phone number so you could order the $2,500.00 receiver. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3272 Registered: 10-2003 |
Sorry Ed, but I've searched listings under appliances, radios, records, phonographs, musical instruments, department stores, and furniture stores: No luck. If you can think of any other category, I'd be happy to search it for you. Unfortunately, reverse number look-up directories didn't appear until the 1960s. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 608 Registered: 10-2003 |
Mikem, Thanks for your efforts. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1837 Registered: 04-2005 |
Lets look at this another way, where was the Randolph exchange, That translated to 72. Maybe we can find the geographic area served by RA. Looking up on the thread, I see it was downtown. That would narrow it down somewhat. Maybe Grinelle's or Downtown Hudson's? That phone number might be a direct line into the music dept. I was thinking Uptown Radio, Highland Park, but thats outside the RA service area. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 609 Registered: 10-2003 |
Psip, Grinnells or Hudsons is what I was thinking too. They are the only downtown stores I can think of that might have had music rooms that would display a $2500. TV set. Mikem, You got a 1946 number for Grinnells and Hudsons? | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3274 Registered: 10-2003 |
Grinnell Brothers Music House CHerry-3600 J L Hudson CHerry-5100 CHerry was an older exchange, dating from 1909, so the established stores had Cherry numbers. RAndolph was a newcomer to downtown, placed in service in 1925. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1723 Registered: 11-2003 |
I have my dad's old business cards from the legal department of the AAA on Bagley and one reads 600 United Artists Bldg , Cherry 4270. Another business card reads 139 Bagley Avenue, Cherry 2911. And a "later" one reads WO 3-2911. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5278 Registered: 11-2003 |
It is wonderful to see The Rock chime in with really cool stuff. That must have been the number we called at Detroit CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) to see when and if AAA would ever hire minorities. At the time, they Redlined inner city neighborhoods for car and home insurance and had no minorities in the company except some janitors or an elevator operator. So like lettered prefixes on phone numbers, AAA has changed, got new phone lines, and moved suburban. Thanks Rock. jjaba just had to connect his involvement to Michigan AAA. He still belongs as a AAA-Plus Customer, addicted to Triptiks. jjaba, fond memories as picket captain. (CORE actually staged sit-ins in the lobby of the bldg. behind the Statler Hotel but jjaba remain legal outside in this case, 1964-65.) | ||
Paulmcall Member Username: Paulmcall Post Number: 97 Registered: 05-2004 |
BRoadway 32446 was in the Grand River- Greenfield area. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 115 Registered: 12-2006 |
One of my first jobs was at a linen company on Forest and Crane, with a WAlnut exchange WA 5-9. My house, when I lived with the grandparents, was on the Detroit side of the Harper Woods-Detroit border: TUxedo 1-1. My parents moved to Warren in the 60s, it was SLocum. Though, I got shuttled back and forth so I always had 2 phone numbers. I can't believe I remember all these numbers. I did office work, so it was part of my job, I guess. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1869 Registered: 04-2005 |
I think most of Warren and Center Line were SLocum. We moved to CL in about 1954, I remember the phone man installing a wall phone in the kitchen. Grand Mother moved to Warren in about 1956, she too had a SL # and a wall phone in the kitchen. | ||
Eastsidedame Member Username: Eastsidedame Post Number: 147 Registered: 12-2006 |
Psip, if you were in CL in '54, you must remember the old St. Clements Church. I loved that building! My aunt lived at 7 Mile and Schoenherr and I think her number was LAkeless, too. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1890 Registered: 04-2005 |
Absolutely Eastside Dame. I had my first communion in the old church. That was a neat building. I recall sitting in 4th grade staring out the window watching the construction of the "new church" Take a look at fellow DY member MikeG's St. Clement page: http://centerline.grobbel.org/ sc/st_clement.htm | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 870 Registered: 12-2005 |
One of my g-g-grandfathers helped lay the bricks on the exterior of the old St. Clement church [1925 photo] when it was built in 1880. My parents were married in that church and I was baptized there as well. On the subject of old phone numbers, the 2nd floor of the building kitty-corner from the church (on the NW corner of Engleman and Van Dyke) was the location of the first telephone exchange in Center Line. The equipment cost $250,000 to construct and install and it began operation at noon on Saturday May 19, 1928. Prior to that, local businesses like Wolf's Hardware had phone numbers like "Warren 39-F-24" [1927 ad] that relied on a manually-operated switchboard to make the call. Phone numbers for Warren Twp. businesses located closer to Detroit had Detroit exchange phone numbers, such as the "Whittier 6799" phone number for the Rivard Ford dealership (on Van Dyke just north of 8 Mile Rd.) [1927 ad]. After the war, Michigan Bell decided to build a stand-alone building to house the SLocum exchange and the former location above Schuster's Hardware Store was converted to apartments [1962 photo]. The newer Michigan Bell building is still located on 10 Mile Rd. between Landau and Godin Avenues. It is the large, three-story building in the right-center of this aerial photo, which was taken abound 1970. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3316 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Center Line (SLocum) central office, placed in service in 1948 (top two floors added later):  The Whittier exchange MikeG refers to was located on Van Dyke, just a block north of Gratiot, and was placed in service October 29, 1927. It served northeast Detroit up to and beyond Eight Mile Road until those communities expanded their local service to the fringe of their borders. | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 83 Registered: 01-2007 |
Odd, I just looked through some "Bornmanuals" that my gr-gr & gr-gr-gr-grandfathers Bornman printed from 1925-1930. No phone number. And they didn't give the location of Fort & 2nd until 1927. I guess they figured that being in business since 1859 was advertising enough. James PS. I was MAyfair 6-5326. Now I have 248-666-????. Some people won't call my number! (666) Love it! | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 877 Registered: 12-2005 |
From 1949 until 1985, my parents made a monthly check out to Michigan Bell for the right to continue using their SL 7-0184 telephone account. Our family lived four houses away from the Center Line central office building shown above and I would walk past it every day to and from school. I remember when the neighborhood kids got caught up in the 1960 Presidential election and they would use chalk to write "Kennedy" and scratch out someone else's "Nixon" (and vice versa) on the back wall of the building along the alley. When it was warm out, they would have the building's windows open and you could hear the clicking noises of the switches all the way out to the sidewalk. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3318 Registered: 10-2003 |
Do you remember when the top floors were added? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 878 Registered: 12-2005 |
It was in the fall of 1958 when I began walking past that building on my way to first grade and I do not remember ever witnessing any construction. The DTE aerial photos pin it down to sometime between the 1952 and 1956. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3319 Registered: 10-2003 |
Thanks - my notes say December 1954 was when Center Line received nationwide direct dialing ability, so I'm guessing the expansion to hold the necessary equipment was done earlier that year. |
