By the end of the 1870s, Mobilians began to get a glimpse of the emerging era of technological achievement.  While in Europe, A.C. Danner, owner of a large lumber and coal company in Mobile, attended a lecture on Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, which could carry sound waves over long distances through wires.  Intrigued by the telephones potential, Danner ordered two of the new devices to be installed in his business upon his return.  In 1879 - one hundred and thirty years ago - Danner's employees installed a phone in the main office and another in the shipping department, some 100 feet away.

Word about the new device spread quickly throughout the city and Danner's friends and colleagues flocked to his business for demonstrations.  In November, Danner and other businessmen established the first Mobile telephone exchange, which was a network of connected telephones.  Businesses embraced the new device and many stores began accepting "call-in" orders for their products. 

City leaders installed telephones in City Hall and the local jail in 1883.  Five years later, Mobile was connected to Montgomery and Pascagoula, Mississippi by the area's first long distance lines.  By 1900, there were more than 1,000 telephones in the Port City.  By 1925, the number had increased to 8,000. 

The remaining years of the nineteenth century yielded further innovations.  The widespread use of electricity transformed the transportation system in the city.  Electric streetcars replaced mule-drawn cars and carriages and, as a result, the city began to expand.  Other life-changing innovations would follow during the twentieth century.   

By Scotty E. Kirkland

View these images and many more at http://www.southalabama.edu/archives.