SPOTLIGHT: The big crank phone

Twenty-five years ago, the last hand-cranked phone call was made in Maine. This week, a 14 foot tall metal sculpture of the old-style crank phone was dedicated in Bryant Pond to note the event.

The Bryant Pond Telephony Company operated the last operating handcrank phone service in the U.S., with the switchboard operated in the living room of owners Elden and Barbara Hathaway. Phone calls were routed through by family members -- sometimes while cooking dinner or doing laundry.

Crank phones were replaced by dial service in October 1983.  Be interesting to see when and where they put up a statue for the last dial phone. Do Millenials even know what a dial phone is? This reporter will now go count his grey hairs.

For more:
- The Bethel Citizen reports [1] on the big crank phone

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