The Party Line - The “Talking Machine”

Around 1909, Mimm Wright built the Winston Telephone switchboard known as “Central,” Arley’s Grand Old Party Line, with an estimated maximum of 25 phones, and it became the pulse of the community. When one phone rang, they all rang, and everybody listened in. The system died piecemeal, as it was built, and ended about 1920. This place also housed one of the earliest known phonographs in the community, owned by Ed Baldwin, and people walked for miles to listen to “Uncle Josh,” “Casey Jones,” and “The Preacher and the Bear.”

Alabama · United States