Telephone Birthday in Faribault Today

The Minnesota State Historical Society says on this date in history, December 13, 1882, the first telephone exchange began operations in Faribault, Mn.

The Northwestern Telephone Exchange began Faribault operations with forty customers.

Doesn't the photo from 1911 remind you of today's cell phone towers?

The first telephone in Minnesota was installed in Minneapolis in June of 1877 at the home of Richard Hankinson between his home and Minneapolis City Hall.  The first telephone circuit was a single iron wire with a wet battery for power according to a timeline of phones in Minnesota provided by the St. Louis Park Historical Society.

Hankinson built the first switchboard in 1878 out of old sewing machine parts.  On December 10, 1878 he started the Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company of Minneapolis.

Remember the telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell.

The first telegraph line in Minnesota was put into place August 1, 1860 in St. Paul.

In 1905 just 8 percent of homes in the United States had telephones.