PATRON + Over fifty years ago the little town of Haleyville, Alabama was in the national spotlight!
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Marjorie Nuckols Lowrance, please show this to Paul.
Donna, this is my hometown and the residents of Haleyville are very proud of this heritage.
Wow, didn’t know it was that long ago.
Charles L Yell this is interesting isn’t it
Very cool.
Bob Dawson
I didn’t know this.
Colored reflectors on the roads did too. Blue reflectors for fire hydrant, Daphne fire dept.
Funny thing, I worked for the Phone Company years ago and there was the story of how it became officially nine-one-one rather than nine-eleven. Supposedly a man had a heart attack and died because his wife couldn’t find the eleven on the phone dial.
Haleyville Alabama
Was this before we got electricity? Lol….kewl fact!!!
Can’t be true! Alabama is 48th or 49th in everything! Except new jobs being created !
It’s true it started here
There’s my red phone–I use to have a red wall phone in the kitchen wherever we lived-I still like red!!
I was noticing the red phone,love it,l still like the red too !
LaShawn Tesseneer Scholl
Yes! There used to be huge sign on the side of the road as you drove into a Haleyville that said it was the home of 911. A friend of mine from Tuscumia has a daughter that participated in the Miss 911 contest a few weeks ago and came in second place.
Gregory Couch
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We have went real far real fast
Look, the Bar Phone
My dad worked for the Alabama Telephone Company for over 30 years. This story is absolutely true. I just wish it had told the names of the men who worked after hours and in secret to make the installations. They all worked for my dad.
You couldn’t get through because people were on a party-line. You had to scream at them to get off, because it was an emergency, and then the nosy witches wanted to know why. Unless, you were bless to own a private line.
WVTM (NBC) just reported, “The very first 911 call was made here in central Alabama.” But Haleyville is in Northwest Alabama.
I have a red phone just like this! I don,t used it but it still works !
That phone sat in the trunk of R.L. Shirley’s car for a long time.
All us telephone people have old phones stashed somewhere! LOL
these are the only phones that work when the power gos off [push button]and cell towers go down==land lines forever==phone booths too
When I became city manager in 1990 they gave me an old army surplus desk in the police dept side of City Hall. I found it in the bottom drawer and asked if it was the Batphone. That’s when I found out about the first 911 call.
The Bat Phone!
J Patrick Reed
Hope the phone makes it to the Smithsonian in DC at some point for an extended visit. Great US history!
I didn’t know this.