Telephone Exchange Names

When I was a child I lived in San Bernardino, California from 1966 to 1969. I can still remember my home telephone number: TUrner 5-2176, sometimes abbreviated as TU 5-2176. My grandparents’ telephone number was TU 3-5155.

If I wanted to call my grandparents, since we both lived in the TUrner area, I only had to dial 3-5155. But if I called someone outside the TUrner area, I had to include the two letters, for example, to call someone at UNion 4-7721 I had to dial 864-7721.

So what or who was TUrner?

The Central Office

Prior to 1955, many people had been using exchange names that were not included in the official list and they were not required to change them. For example, I remember advertisements on television urging me to call RIchmond 9-5171 to go see Championship Wrestling at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The official exchange names were PIlgrim, PIoneer, RIverside, RIverview, SHadyside, and SHerwood.

The National Numbering Plan

The National Number consists of ten digits as follows.

Where
L = Any letter from Table 2 below.
N = Any numeral from 0 to 9.
X¹ = Any numeral from 2 to 9.
X² = 0 (zero) or 1.
X³ = Any numeral from 0 to 9 when X² = 0. Any numeral from 0 to 9 except 1 when X² = 1.

The information in Tables 1 and 2 was taken from “Section II Chart 1: The National Numbering Plan” in Notes on Nationwide Dialing (1955).

List of Suitable Central Office Names

The information in Table 3 was taken from “Section II Appendix A: List of Suitable Central Office Names” in Notes on Nationwide Dialing (1955).

References

American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Notes on Nationwide Dialing. 1955.