Blue tinted head and shoulders portrait of a man in the center with red text on a white background surrounding the photograph

Black outlined bubble letters above a smiley face on a pink background

Red and black text on a white background

White background; in the center is a black and white photograph of a smiling man with a pompadour haircut wearing a suit with black text above and below 

Cream colored background with blue band around the edge, and blue text above and below an illustration of a blue lettuce head.

White background with image of a fish in center with black text under image. Blue text surrounds top and bottom of image.

White text and white and red image of a smiling coffee cup with eyes on a red background

Image of blue, red and white macaroni and cheese box with cigarettes coming out of the box and red text at the top and near the bottom of the button. Background is white with rust stains on the sides and bottom borders. 

Sepia-toned photograph of a Victorian-era woman's head and shoulders on an orange background

Red and blue text on a white background; the number "1" is illustrated to look like the button on a touch-tone phone

By the year 1912 phone calls could be made as far apart as New York and Colorado and by 1915 the technology for calls that stretched fully across the country had been invented. By no means easily accessible or widespread, people had to go to specialty phone boxes and human operators that would route calls in order to conduct long distance calls. It wasn’t until the year 1951 that telephone companies had advanced to the point that direct dialing long distance calls became an option on the phones people had in their businesses and homes. The first long distance direct dial call was between the mayor of Englewood New Jersey and the mayor of Alameda California on November 10 1951.