Wednesday, February 21st. In the early days of the telephone, knowing who had one and what the number was quickly became a problem. The first telephone directory in America was published on this date in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut. It wasn’t a big list — there were only 50 subscribers. A little later, a directory also came out in San Francisco, with about 170 names.
Today, of America’s 119 million housing units occupied by owners or renters, over 115 million, or some 97 percent, have cellular or landline telephone service. Eleven firms issue directories for the nation’s personal and business phone numbers, which in 2010 already totaled more than 1.4 billion. Manufacturing telephones and associated equipment is a $6.6 billion a year domestic business.
Profile America is in its 21st year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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