Historic phones used in early transcontinental call shown in S.F.

The phones used by (l tor) Thomas Watson, Alexander Graham Bell Theodore Vail, then President of AT&T in 1915 and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to make the first transcontinental phone call a hundred years ago, are unveiled by the California Historical Society in San Francisco, Ca., as part of the 100 years Panama-Pacific International Exposition exhibition as seen on Thursday January, 22, 2015. less The phones used by (l tor) Thomas Watson, Alexander Graham Bell Theodore Vail, then President of AT&T in 1915 and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to make the first transcontinental phone call a hundred years ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Historic phones used in early transcontinental call shown in S.F. 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The first transcontinental phone call, placed 100 years ago from New York to San Francisco, changed the world so much that, now, nobody wants to make one anymore.

“Technology does keep changing,” said Ken McNeely, the president of AT&T California, who would like very much to charge for a coast-to-coast call at the rate his predecessor used in 1915: $20.70 for three minutes, the equivalent of $500 in today’s dollars. Such a thing, he sighed, is no longer possible, for such is progress.

So, instead, McNeely donned a pair of white gloves on Thursday at the California Historical Society museum in San Francisco and gingerly picked up the candlestick-style phone that President Woodrow Wilson employed to speak with telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell on Jan. 25, 1915. Also on the line that day were Bell’s famed assistant Thomas Watson and AT&T president Theodore Vail.

Together at last

The historic four-way call was celebrated with the bringing together in San Francisco of all four historic phones for the first time. The antique phones sat proud and upright on a table inside the museum on Mission Street. The AT&T people said that, alas, they no longer work. That’s because they’re analog in a digital world. Besides, the cord on the phone Bell used was severed in the middle, which would make any conversations on it a trifle one-sided.

Perhaps it was appropriate that the phones no longer work, because the “first transcontinental phone call” of 1915 turned out to be a publicity stunt to get people to make long-distance calls. As for the first transcontinental call itself — that was made nearly a year earlier over the newly strung lines, historians say. The ceremonial call of 1915 was a staged event in which the four participants read scripted remarks at the behest of the phone company.

“All honor to the men who have rendered this great achievement possible, they have brought all the people of the United States within sound of one another’s voices and united them into one great brotherhood,” Bell said, in remarks that were clearly not off the cuff.

Still the same

In 1915, the only unscripted moment occurred at the beginning of the call when Bell asked Watson, “Are you there, do you hear me?” — much as the users of his invention say today on their wireless versions, on the rare occasions when they use their phones to make an actual phone call.

Yes, things have changed in the phone business, McNeely said on Thursday. In the first place, nobody remembers phone numbers anymore, and McNeely himself said he could not remember his own phone number but that he could find out what it was, if it was important.

“I could look it up for you on my directory,” said the president of the phone company.

What young people seem to use phones for is texting, not conversing. That’s the equivalent of sending a telegram instead of making a phone call — a technological step backward. It’s a good thing that AT&T — which used to stand for American Telephone and Telegraph — no longer officially stands for anything. That clears the way for the return to smoke signals, experts said.

Long time coming

Also of historical note were the materials used for the 1915 phones themselves. Bell, Watson and President Wilson used black plastic phones but Vail, the president of the phone company, had a fancy stainless steel and chrome model — perhaps because, then and now, the president of the phone company earns more than the president of the United States.

The long-distance phone lines took their time making their way west. The line from New York finally made it to Chicago in 1892 and to Denver in 1911. On June 27, 1914, workers raised the final phone pole at Wendover, Utah, and the line was tested days later. The 1915 call was staged to coincide with the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and to tell anyone with an extra $20.70 in his pocket — not a common thing in 1915 — that the lines were open for business.

The historic 1915 phones will be on display beginning Feb. 22 at the society museum as part of its celebration of the Panama-Pacific fair. Admission is $5, which is the equivalent of $5 in 2015 dollars.