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Friday, August 26, 2022 3 Brooklin Town Crier It was September in 1884 when Bell Telephone installed the first telephone line from Whitby to Port Perry, through Brooklin, Myrtle and Manchester. Brooklin's telephone exchange was located in the back of the patent medicine and stationary shop at 49 Baldwin Street, run by businessman Jonnie Pringle. Mable Hall was the first telephone operator. By March of 1906, the telephone office had 15 local subscribers and, as the number of subscribers increased, so did the number of operators. The office was eventually moved to the Rudkin house on the west side of Baldwin Street where residents Shirley Blight, Leonne Smith, Marion Hall and Gladys Rudkin worked the switchboard. Mrs. L. Stephenson kept subscribers' bills up to date. Private and party lines A few subscribers paid extra for private lines, but the majority of users were connected through a party line which was anything but a party. As many as ten families shared one exchange meaning there was no privacy since some subscribers deliberately listened in on other people's conversations. Each family had a special ring that was heard by all the subscribers, so everyone had to pay attention to telephone calls coming into their houses. If a caller wanted someone in the same party line, they hand-cranked a magneto generator to produce the required ringing pattern. If the call was made outside the party line, they signalled the switchboard operator to route it. When lifting the receiver, the caller said "using" before connecting with the operator. In July of 1922, Bell removed its service from Brooklin and The Woodbridge and Vaughan Telephone Company Limited took over. When Brooklin's hand-operated telephone exchange was replaced with the automatic dial exchange, residents were happy with the faster service, though a few things that were useful to the village were lost. The operator was no longer available to answer resident's questions or contact the fire department or a doctor. Having the caller's voice recognized was a comfort to some senior residents. Former Brooklinite Johnny Lade recalls August 2, 1954, as the time when, as a young boy, he went missing. The operator called all the phones in the Brooklin exchange to ask for volunteers to search for him and within minutes, over 50 men had responded to the call. Paying for calls Until 1958, charges were made for long distance calls between Brooklin, Whitby and Oshawa. This was eliminated that summer due to widened local calling for area users. Four digit numbers were introduced and the rotary dial phone became a staple in every home. Bell returned to Brooklin in 1961 in a new building on Vipond Road featuring "modern" equipment. The beginning of the end for the rotary dial came in 1963 as tone dialing became available. The digits 655 were added to the four digit phone numbers for local calls. By November of 1968, callers were required to dial the full seven digits. Brooklinites began to dial 905 before the seven digit number starting in 1993. The area code 905 was officially exhausted in 2005 and others numbers are used. However, in this mobile phone age, the changes do not matter as much as they did in those days of the rotary phone. . Photos courtesy of Gord Stevens When the Telephone Arrived By Jennifer Hudgins Telephone operators Marion Hall, Leonne Smith and Gladys Rud- Old telephone with magneto generator