How many telephone switchboard operators were there in 1950? In 1950, there were 342,000 telephone switchboard operators working for the Bell Telephone System and some independent operators, as well as another 1 million or so telephone switchboard operators who worked at private locations like office buildings, factories, hotels, and apartment buildings.When did women start working on the telephone switchboard? Telephone switchboard 1880s. Women operators working at the Bell Telephone Company exchange in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1897. Pacific Telephone & Telegraph operators, ca. 1900. A Telephone Exchange operator in Richardson, Texas, ca. 1900.Where can i find an old telephone switchboard? Antique 1940s era telephone switchboard at Ft. Miles, Delaware . A World War 2 era fire control switchboard on display at the Ft. Miles Museum, Cape Henlopen, DE. Ancient telephone station on the museum. First phone station of the 1910s, Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada.What is the difference between a telephone number and a switchboard? Moreover, with switchboards, there were no telephone numbers. Instead, the caller would ask the operator to be connected to another subscriber by name, and the operator, who had memorized the name of every subscriber, would connect them.
Switchboard Operator, "Information Please". Information Please. It was a simple phrase. Before 411 and the Internet, saying "Information Please" to the operator was an open door into the big wide world. When you dialed the letter O on your rotary dial phone, the switchboard operator would answer, "How may I help you?".