Derby History Quiz
Modern day cell phones and "super" phones are really hand held computers, but there was an era when a telephone was just that - a device for sending and receiving a voice over hard wired land lines. We doubt that many would want to go back, but for this quiz, we stepped back just a bit to the days of the no longer so familiar black rotary dial phones. You couldn't use voice commands to call with this phone, but rather had to manually dial the number. An early Bell Telephone ad referred to the dialing as, "taking control of one of the world's largest and most ingenious machines. It is a giant mechanical brain which remembers and passes along the letters and numbers you select". It went on to say that, "Dial has made great strides in recent years, but greater things are in store". How right they were, but we wonder if they ever envisioned a day when you wouldn't even need the dial! Direct dialing did not come into widespread use until the 1920's. In earlier years, you would call the operator and ask to be connected to another phone. If you look at a phone you will notice that each number is also associated with letters of the alphabet (1-ABC, 2-DEF, etc.). By the time that numbers evolved into the conventional 7 number scheme for dialing (xxx-xxxx), the first two or three spaces were associated with letters which gave each exchange a unique name associated with the exchange area. Someone calling an operator would ask to be connected to "Castle-1234" rather than 227-1234. By 1955, the Bell system was recommending names to be used for the letter combinations, but the names are long gone from use. But for this quiz, we want to resurrect Derby's exchange name. For example, In Derby the first three digits were 734, and the word associated was REGENT. Correct answers were received from: Carol Pendagast, John M. Rak, Howard Bradshaw, Marc J. Garofalo, Donna Jeanne (Turschmann) Curtiss, maureen murphy, anita Dugatto, Fred Muratori, Neil V. Dorso, Moss Cremoldi, Dennis Kisyk, Naya Esposito, John Drauss, Jack O'Callaghan, tony cannici, Edward Baclawski, Frank Lazowski, Nick from Terryville, Chuck Stankye, Virginia "Bomba" Ljungquist, Kathy Brown, Michael J Regan, Jack Vagnini, Tom Gambaccini, Fred Grant, Bob Ahearn, Jack Sheehy, james sheehy, Sharon J, Renee Granato Mercede, JohnKowarik, Arlene Lombardi, Chris Kalesavich, John Marganski, Robert Pasquini, Dan Santoro, rick dunne, Brad Bowers, John Moran, Mary Ann (Culmo) Mason DHS Class of 1956, John DeBarbieri, Paul Dinice, Jim Norris, Ted Estwan, robert fette, Ron Culmo, Mildred Fatterusso, Ray Allen (DHS 75), Donna Perry, Mary Ellen Slywka, Kathy Brown, MARILYN MIZII, tom lenart, Tom Marcucio, mary skurat, Steve Tyburski, Joe Titta, Pat Filan, Joe Dedo, RUTH E. BARNETT, Marsha Pettengill, Laura A. Wabno, Joe Montini, Bonnie Berman, Dayton Homes, Coleen R Wilson, DAVID A RIZZIO, Deirdre Filan Curtis, Paul Comkowycz, David M Hughes, don dufresne, Ann Searles, Albert Nimons, Kimberley Shelton, Sean Conlon, brian mcmahon, Bernard Williamson, BOB SCOVIN, Peter Aliferis, Gary Parker, Louise Pitney, John Millea, John Stobierski, Pat Shelton, Lynne Anglace and Tom Lionetti. There was also one anonymous answer. To see our earlier quizzes and learn more about Derby's unique history, click here.
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