Bell further in the future

1915

January 25

In 1913, under AT&T ownership, the Bell System became a government sanctioned monopoly following a government anti-trust suit and the Kingsbury Commitment. After 1934, AT&T was regulated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Proliferation of the telephone allowed the company to become the largest corporation in the world until its dismantling by the United States Department of Justice in 1984, at which time the Bell System ceased to exist. Bell takes part in the formal opening of the transcontinental telephone line by talking on the telephone in New York to Watson in San Francisco. Invitation from Theodore Vail to Bell

AT&T started on the line in 1885 and completed construction of the line on June 27, 1914, erecting the last pole at Wendover, Utah. However, the line was not made operational until San Francisco’s exposition to mark the completion of the Panama Canal, on which day Bell made the call.

 

Obviously doing something interesting got him some hype in the papers. I was unable to find exerts from the papers around this time.