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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, July 10, 2026, pg. 6
Earlier this year, everyone in Albion that had a landline telephone was notified that they had to switch to some type of cellular phone by a date in November. I recently did that, and it brought back memories about when I was growing up here. I remember when our phone numbers were only 4 digits long, like 3672 for instance. In 1958, the 629 prefix was added, but they didn't call it that. It was known as "NAtional-9" so you wouldn't get confused with all of the numbers. NA was really the 62 part of it. After several years the "NAtional" part was phased out so it was just known as 629. When area codes were added and direct long distance dialing began in 1967, that really complicated things. You were instructed to write the area code in parentheses, such as: (517) 629-3672, so you didn't confuse the area code with the prefix number. Just for fun, I looked up the prefix meanings of some area communities back then and came up with the following: Parma, JEfferson-1, 531; Marshall, STory-1, 781; Jackson, STate-2,3,4,9, 782 etc; Battle Creek, WOodward-2,3,4,5,8, 962, etc; Homer, JOrdan-8, 568; and Concord, LAkeside-4, 524. Do you remember these? Up until 1948, all telephone calls were operator-assisted here in Albion. Mrs. Marion Beers was the head operator. After that you could dial locally without the aid of an operator, and the Michigan Bell Telephone Company opened its own new building at 210 S. Clinton St. where the local calls were processed. There were instructions in the telephone book about "How to Use a Dial Telephone." By way of history, Albion's telephone service dates back to 1883, when local shoe merchant Henry W. Mosher had a single line installed in his establishment at 204 S. Superior St. It was connected to the just-laid Jackson-to-Kalamazoo line, offering only long-distance service. The Michigan Telephone Company was persuaded by local residents to open up a telephone exchange here, and so in April, 1884, a switchboard was installed in Mosher's store. It was a ten-line board with a split plug. The first customers were: Henry Mosher, Martin B. Wood, the Albion Milling Company, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad freight house, the Michigan Central Railroad freight house, and John E. Perine. Albion was one of the first small exchanges to operate 24-hours-a-day, when most other exchanges closed down overnight. A few months later the switchboard was moved to 103 W. Porter St. in July, 1884, and a year later to 300 S. Superior St. where it shared space with the U.S. Express Company. Thus were the beginnings of our telephone system. From our Historical Notebook this week we present the cover of the 1917 Albion-Marshall telephone directory, issued by the Michigan State Telephone Company, part of the AT&T Bell System network. Even though the directory was for both communities, it was still long distance to call the other community. That situation didn't change until the late 20th century. How many of our readers still have their landline telephone service?  The Cover of the 1917 Albion-Marshall Telephone Directory
All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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