AREA CODE

Telephone area codes were developed by AT&T and Bell Labs in the early 1940's and put in use in 1947 in the U.S. and Canada. They tell you things that are quite interesting.

Numbers were distributed by need to each state based on population.  States which only needed one code were given number with 0 in the center.   States which required more than one code had a number 1 in the center.  For instance, Kentucky only required one code and was given 502.  Ohio required four codes and was given 216, 419, 513 and 614.

The first number of the code told relatively what the population of the area was.  Northeastern Ohio (Cleveland) was most populace and got the number beginning with 2.  Northwestern Ohio (Toledo) got the number 4 because it had more the Southwestern (Cincinnati) and Southeastern (Columbus).

This is what also struck me as interesting.  In 1947, California needed only three area codes (213, 415, 916) and Florida only had one (305) while New York had five and Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas had four.

Oh my!  ... the population shift in my lifetime.

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