My interview with William Caughlin, the head of AT&T Archives and History Center, started with an ironic twist. Our Microsoft Teams video call failed, so we ended up talking over the “regular” phone.. Perhaps “regular” isn’t entirely accurate, given the infrastructure. But it was fitting for the topic of our conversation: the very first phone call, which occurred exactly 150 years ago.. On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made a famous exclamation to his assistant: “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.” That sentence crossed a single copper wire to the next room. Though the technology that enabled the call has changed drastically over the past century and a half, the experience was fundamentally the same. Two people in two different locations were having a conversation — and seeking a connection — in real time.. Caughlin told me that Bell had been working on experiments for a year by then. But even though he was able to transmit speech sounds over copper wire in 1875, it was inarticulate. “Watson could hear noises, sounds, but he couldn’t really make out what Bell was saying. But Bell knew he was on the right path at that point,” Caughlin said.. Those experiments culminated on March 10, when the sounds became clear.. Read more: AT&T Says It’s Pumping $250 Billion Into New Infrastructure Improvements. Artifacts of the future. To celebrate the anniversary of that first transmission, AT&T created a pop-up exhibit at its Dallas headquarters, open to the public through Thursday, March 12.. Some notable artifacts on display from this day 150 years ago include the copper wire over which the message was sent, which in 1914 was wrapped in a loose spool and set behind glass. There’s also Thomas Watson’s notebook, where he recorded those historic first words.. “It’s one of the greatest treasures in our collection,” said Caughlin.. The original copper wire over which Bell transmitted the first phone call in 1876 is featured in a pop-up exhibit. AT&T/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson. The first transcontinental call, with Bell in the center, took place in New York City in 1915. In front of the person to Bell’s right is the original copper wire used in the first phone call in 1876. From left, Chief Engineer of AT&T John J. Carty; President of the New York City Board of Aldermen George McAneny; Vice President of AT&T U.N. Bethell; Alexander Graham Bell; Mayor of New York City John Purroy Mitchel; President of Nebraska Telephone Co. Casper E. Yost; and New York City Comptroller William A. Prendergast. AT&T. In his journal, Thomas Watson recorded what was said during the first phone call from Bell. AT&T/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson. And with its red ribbon and official seal, the original March 7, 1876, patent for “Improvement in Telegraphy,” is said to be the most valuable patent ever granted.. At a pop-up exhibit at AT&T’s headquarters, the original patent for Bell’s telephone is framed, along with the copper wire used to transmit the first phone call and Watson’s j
