MrJim911
08-09-2001, 20:47
I don't know if this has ever been posted here, but I thought for those that have never heard the story they might find it interesting.
World's First 9-1-1 Call
Haleyville, AL - February 16, 1968
The following is a brief recount of the events surrounding the placing of the nation's first 9-1-1 call.
Before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, (June 2, 1875) public safety was served by town criers. A town crier would walk the streets of a town and cry out for help in emergency situations.
In the 1950's, independent telephone companies were very common in the United States. If you wanted the police, you dialed the police station. If you had a fire, you called the fire department. If you needed any emergency help, you dialed the individual you needed, or you could dial 0 and get the operator. Then he or she would ring the persons you were calling for.
In 1958, Congress called for an universal emergency number. At this time, the President's Commission of Law Enforcement and the F.C.C. started arguing over a single easy to remember number. This was due to the large volume of emergency calls going to telephone company operators. A person may be calling for emergency help while the operator was giving information on the number of Aunt Betsy in Louisiana or Uncle Charles in Oklahoma, which lead to delays in emergency responses. Telephone companies were facing the problem of how to separate emergencies from general business. For over ten years the idea was discussed and argued about among the different agencies who wanted to receive the calls. Police said they should answer all calls, the Fire Department felt they were the better choice, some even felt the local hospital was the best answer.
Haleyville, Alabama introduced the nations first 9-1-1 system which was located at the police station. Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite, made the first call from another city hall room. It was answered by Congressman Tom Bevill on a bright red telephone located in the police department. Also on hand was Haleyville Mayor James Whitt, Public Service Commission President Eugene (Bull) Connor, and B. W. Gallagher, president of the Alabama Telephone Company. So on February 16, 1968, the first 9-1-1 call was made.
It may sound like introducing 9-1-1 in Haleyville was easy, but history will show that Bill Frye, a man in his mid twenties who was president of Alabama and Mississippi Independent Telephone Associations, should receive most of the credit. Bill was highly educated in electronics and had set up several telephone home bases. He got interested in 9-1-1 because of the challenge of engineering the project.
In the early stages, the city fathers were skeptical of 9-1-1 calls being answered the police station. They, like persons in Congress, were afraid that the city might not have the personnel qualified to answer "all out emergency calls".
When the city Fathers finally agreed to Frye's idea, he started communicating with his boss, Mr. B. W. Gallagher, who gave the go ahead but felt they were going out on a limb, being the first to undertake installing 9-1-1. Mr. Gallagher asked Frye, "If I can get all this approved through F.C.C. and everybody involved, how long would it take you and your men to install this system?" Frye responded that it would take about a week, and the rest is history.
World's First 9-1-1 Call
Haleyville, AL - February 16, 1968
The following is a brief recount of the events surrounding the placing of the nation's first 9-1-1 call.
Before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, (June 2, 1875) public safety was served by town criers. A town crier would walk the streets of a town and cry out for help in emergency situations.
In the 1950's, independent telephone companies were very common in the United States. If you wanted the police, you dialed the police station. If you had a fire, you called the fire department. If you needed any emergency help, you dialed the individual you needed, or you could dial 0 and get the operator. Then he or she would ring the persons you were calling for.
In 1958, Congress called for an universal emergency number. At this time, the President's Commission of Law Enforcement and the F.C.C. started arguing over a single easy to remember number. This was due to the large volume of emergency calls going to telephone company operators. A person may be calling for emergency help while the operator was giving information on the number of Aunt Betsy in Louisiana or Uncle Charles in Oklahoma, which lead to delays in emergency responses. Telephone companies were facing the problem of how to separate emergencies from general business. For over ten years the idea was discussed and argued about among the different agencies who wanted to receive the calls. Police said they should answer all calls, the Fire Department felt they were the better choice, some even felt the local hospital was the best answer.
Haleyville, Alabama introduced the nations first 9-1-1 system which was located at the police station. Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite, made the first call from another city hall room. It was answered by Congressman Tom Bevill on a bright red telephone located in the police department. Also on hand was Haleyville Mayor James Whitt, Public Service Commission President Eugene (Bull) Connor, and B. W. Gallagher, president of the Alabama Telephone Company. So on February 16, 1968, the first 9-1-1 call was made.
It may sound like introducing 9-1-1 in Haleyville was easy, but history will show that Bill Frye, a man in his mid twenties who was president of Alabama and Mississippi Independent Telephone Associations, should receive most of the credit. Bill was highly educated in electronics and had set up several telephone home bases. He got interested in 9-1-1 because of the challenge of engineering the project.
In the early stages, the city fathers were skeptical of 9-1-1 calls being answered the police station. They, like persons in Congress, were afraid that the city might not have the personnel qualified to answer "all out emergency calls".
When the city Fathers finally agreed to Frye's idea, he started communicating with his boss, Mr. B. W. Gallagher, who gave the go ahead but felt they were going out on a limb, being the first to undertake installing 9-1-1. Mr. Gallagher asked Frye, "If I can get all this approved through F.C.C. and everybody involved, how long would it take you and your men to install this system?" Frye responded that it would take about a week, and the rest is history.