Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-043

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (March 10, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, we celebrate the first call by phone.

CAN YOU HEAR ME

On March 10, 1876, the first words ever spoken over a telephone took place between Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson.  “Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you.”  This conversation took place in Bell’s Boston home with Watson out of earshot in a different room. 

The first transcontinental telephone conversation was also between these two men, in 1915, when Bell, in New York, called Watson in San Francisco.

Bell had just received his patent for the invention three days before the historic first call.  That patent gave him ownership over his physical telephones and the eventual existence of a telephone system.  Bell truly lucked out, beating inventor Elisha Gray by just a few hours, in filing his patent.

Fellow inventor Thomas Edison is credited with making the word “hello” a popular greeting in the English language.  Bell’s choice for a telephone greeting was “Ahoy”, and other people used phrases like “Are you there?” and “Can you hear me?”  At the time “Hello” was used to catch someone’s attention or show surprise, but Edison thought it the perfect clear neutral choice to address an unknown caller at the other end of the line.

Bell was born in Scotland, so we present here Teesdale’s 1831 map of Scotland.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.