The early phones were clunky, bulky, and clumsy; they were definitely not user-friendly. The sound quality was rotten, operating one was half-impossible, and for some people they were too expensive to get.

Alexander Graham Bell patented the first practical telephone in 1876.

The following year, 1877, Bell gave one of his close buddies in Grand Rapids two telephones, which became the first ones in the state. The buddy was president of a plaster company, and in August of that year, a demonstration with those two phones were held. This boosted the public's curiosity for the telephone and not long afterward, the first commercial phone line was connected from a Detroit drugstore to its chemical laboratories just a couple of miles away.

By October, the local police department had phones.

With Bell starting & demonstrating ("demonstarting") the phone over the next few years, they became more popular and soon was a necessity, especially for physicians.

Soon, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company incorporated in 1904 The company broke up in 1984. Beginning in 1993, all the company's phone services operated under the Ameritch name.

All this, and Bell wasn't even the one who invented the phone...he just was the first to receive a patent for it. The actual creation of the telephone is credited to Antonio Meucci, who constructed telephone-like devices between 1854-1856.

Meucci was finally recognized for this in 2002.

EARLY TELEPHONES

MORE MICHIGAN HISTORY:

Michigan's First Pizza Place

When Chief Sitting Bull Visited Michigan, 1885

Lilacs and Outhouses

Vintage Cereals of The Battle Creek Food Company

Charlie Gehringer, Detroit Tiger From Fowlerville

 

 

 

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