Originally named Chicago Air Park in 1923, the city leased the airport and renamed it Chicago Municipal Airport in 1927. Then in 1949, the airport was renamed Midway Airport to honor the 1942 Battle of Midway. In 1929, aviation officials warned the City of Chicago that the airport was too small, too crowded, and bordered on being unsafe.
A major sticking point in the Chicago Municipal Airport's growth was the little problem of the railroad tracks running across the property at 59th Street, a ribbon of steel curtailing further expansion as effectively as a birdcage. In 1936, as 50-passenger, four propeller airplanes were on the horizon, city officials were warned again of the airport's limitations, this time by United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (founded in 1929).
An aerial view of the Chicago Municipal Airport shows the old and new field bisected by railroad tracks.
A train actually using the tracks in 1938.
The sensible suggestion that the tracks be moved north of 55th Street would prove a herculean task involving the City Council, state legislature, Illinois Supreme Court, and the federal government.
The original plan for the removal of the tracks was in 1937.
It took until 1941 to get the track moved. Indicative of the process, even after the new tracks were laid, the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad refused to tear up the old tracks until the city paid money into an escrow account to cover $10,627 ($176,016 in 2017) they felt the city still owed them.
Driving the Golden Spike to open the new track section.
When Hale School was built in 1925, the most westerly extremity of the airport was along the path of South Laramie Avenue. However, in 1933 the east-west strip was extended westward to near South Central Avenue. In 1941, after the railroad tracks moved, two northeast-southwest runways that had been constructed around 1938 were opened up to air traffic, also adjacent to Hale School. It is accurate to say that from 1933 to 1951, Nathan Hale Elementary School sat as close as 200 feet from the ends of as many as three runways.
For most of those years, the airport was advertised as the "World’s Busiest Airport."
A runway accident and other close calls prompted school officials to discuss moving the school in 1949, but the move didn't happen for another two years while a new building was being constructed. The airport closed the runway close to Hale Elementary Schoolduring school hours. Then in 1951, a new building, keeping the name of Nathan Hale Elementary School, opened at 6140 South Melvina Avenue, two miles west of the airport.
Contrary
to popular belief, there were no central office prefixes initially.To place a call on June 26, 1878, when the Bell-licensed
Chicago Telephonic Exchange first opened, the subscriber merely told the
operator the name and address of the party desired.
Telephone switchboard operator, Washington Island, Wisconsin, 1915.
For purposes of
identification, the original telephone switchboard at 125 LaSalle St. was known
as the Central office. Two more offices soon opened and were called the Halsted
Street branch and the Canal Street branch.
By
1883, these three central offices had grown to 11, and around that time the Bell
System-affiliated Chicago Telephone Company (formed in 1881) began to refer to
most of them by number. Thus, the switchboard at 125 LaSalle St. became known
as the № 2 office. By then, too, subscribers were requested to call by number
rather than by name.
Chicago telephone switchboard in the 1880s. (photo via Illinois Bell)
The
initial digit of the phone number generally indicated the telephone central office;
that is, the subscriber who had “3123”
as the call number was served from the № 3 office at Chicago Ave. and Clark St. The
three offices lying just outside the city limits had no numerical designation and
were known as Stock Yards, Oakland, and Ravenswood. In 1889, Stock Yards was renamed Yards, and Ravenswood was renamed Lake View. In that same year, telephone
growth led to the introduction of 5-digit numbers, with the Oakland series ranging from 9800 to 10,999 and the Lake View series from 12,001 to 12,499. This
first call number system was inflexible, however, because it allowed little
latitude for growth.
By
1892, on the eve of the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition, it became
apparent that the city was rapidly outgrowing the old numbering scheme. In that year, the change to a system of combined prefix and number was implemented. Beginning
February 15, a subscriber served from № 3 office had his/her number change
from “3123” to “North 123.” The entire
list of changes:
Old
DesignationServing #sChanged to
№ 2office 1 to 2999 Main 1
to Main 2999
№ 3 3001 to 3999 North 1 to North 999
№ 4 & 5 4000 to 5399 Main 4000 to Main 5399
№ 7 7001 to 7999 West 1 to West 999
№ 8 8001 to 8999 South 1 to South 999
№ 9 9001 to 9499 Canal 1 to Canal 499
Yards 9500 to 9799 Yards 500 to Yards 799
Oakland 9800 to 10,999 Oakland
800 to Oakland 999
Lake View 12,001 to 12,499 Lake
View 1 to Lake View 499
Telephone
numbers, therefore, started using the central office name as the prefix. This second
system remained in effect for nearly 30 years.
Early switchboard operator, 1880s.
In
June 1921, Illinois Bell Telephone Company (formed in December 1920 from the merger
of Chicago Telephone Company and the Illinois properties of Central Union
Telephone Company) adopted the citywide 3-letter 4-number plan, effective with
the delivery of the October telephone directory. At that time, all phone
numbers with fewer than four digits were modified to add zeros in front of the number to ensure four numerals in all cases (for example, “NORTH 0029”). Specific names, such as “Monticello,” were replaced
because their numerical equivalents, in this case, “666,” conflicted with other existing
offices, like “Monroe.” As a result, “Monticello” became “Juniper.” This change
was necessary for the launch of the automatic dial service, first introduced in Chicago with the cutover of the “CENtral” prefix (located in the Franklin Building at 315 W. Washington St.) on June 9, 1923.
The fourth alteration in Chicago’s calling plan was the conversion to 2 letters and 5 numbers across the city on September 18, 1948 (for instance, “CEntral 6-1234”). As with the implementation of central office prefixes in
1892, the change to the 2-letter 5-number plan was necessary to provide additional
telephone numbers required by the enormous demand for phone service after World
War II.
The
following is the complete list of Chicago and Evanston central office exchange names and
their corresponding prefixes, adopted in 1948.
Rotary Dial
Two 17-year-old teenagers were baffled by a rotary phone.
A must-watch video.
Telephone operators, 1950s.
This system allowed for additional
prefix equivalents without the need to invent new exchange names.
FRontier........... FR 4&6 FUlton............. FU 5
GArden............. GA 4 GLadstone.......... GL 5
GRaceland.......... GR 2&7
GReenleaf.......... GR 5
GRovehill.......... GR 6
HArrison........... HA 7
HAymarket.......... HA 1
HEmlock............ HE 4&6
HIlltop............ HI 5
HOllycourt......... HO 5
HUdson............. HU 3,7&8
HUmboldt........... HU 6&9
HYde Park.......... HY 3
INdependence....... IN 3
INterocean......... IN 8
IRving............. IR 8
JUniper............ JU 3&8
KEdzie............. KE 3
KEnwood............ KE 6&8
KEystone........... KE 3&9
KIldare............ KI 5
LAfayette.......... LA 1,2&3
LAkeview........... LA 5&8
LAwndale........... LA 1&2
LIncoln............ LI 9
LIvingston......... LI 8
LOngbeach.......... LO 1 LUdlow............. LU 2&5
MAnsfield.......... MA 6
MErrimac........... ME 7
MIchigan........... MI 2
MIdway............. MI 3 MItchell........... MI 6
MOhawk............. MO 4
MOnroe............. MO 6
MUlberry........... MU 5
MUseum............. MU 4
NAtional........... NA 2&5
NEvada............. NE 2&8
NEwcastle.......... NE 1
NOrmal............. NO 7
OAkland............ OA 4
OFficial........... OF 3 ORchard............ OR 3&6
PAlisade........... PA 5
PEnsacola.......... PE 6
PLaza.............. PL 2
POlice............. PO 5
POrtsmouth......... PO 7 PRescott........... PR 9
PRospect........... PR 6&8
PUllman............ PU 5
RAdcliffe.......... RA 3
RAndolph........... RA 6&7
RAvenswood......... RA 8
REgent............. RE 1&4
REliance........... RE 5
REpublic........... RE 7
ROckwell........... RO 2
ROdney............. RO 3
ROgers Park........ RO 1&4
SAcramento......... SA 2
SAginaw............ SA 1
SEeley............. SE 3&8
SHeldrake.......... SH 3
SOuth Chicago...... SO 8
SOuth Shore........ SO 8
SPaulding.......... SP 2
SPring............. SP 4,5&7
STate.............. ST 1&2
STewart............ ST 3
SUnnyside.......... SU 4
SUperior........... SU 7
TAylor............. TA 9
TRiangle........... TR 3&4
TUxedo............. TU 9
UNderhill.......... UN 7 UNiversity......... UN 4,6&9
UPtown............. UP 8
VAn Buren.......... VA 6
VIctory............ VI 2
VIncennes.......... VI 6
VIrginia........... VI 7
WAbash............. WA 2
WAgner............. WA 4
WAlbrook........... WA 5
WAterfall.......... WA 8
WEather............ WE 4
WEbster............ WE 9
WEllington......... WE 5
WEntworth.......... WE 6
WHitehall.......... WH 3&4
YArds.............. YA 7
The
fifth and final telephone number scheme began with the conversion to All Number
Calling (ANC) on September 11, 1960.Despite
some early opposition from individuals and businesses who wanted to retain
their beloved exchange prefixes, this evolutionary process was finally completed
in 1977.
At
that point, the Chicago alphabetical directory (White Pages) listed all local numbers in the city in the now-familiar 7-digit format still in use today (such as “236-1234”).
Exchange
names continued appearing in some Chicago Yellow Pages and advertisements into the 1980s.
In
the original North American Numbering Plan of 1947, the Chicago area was covered by area code 312, the rest of northern Illinois by 815, central Illinois by 217, and southern Illinois by 618.
Reasons why people tend to remember their first telephone number, no matter how old they are.
Safety and Security: Parents, teachers, and community safety programs emphasize the importance of children memorizing their home telephone numbers at a young age. This was done as a safety measure so that children can contact their parents or guardians in case of an emergency or if they get lost. This early and frequent repetition can make the number stick in a person’s memory, possibly forever.
Repetition and Usage: The first telephone number that one learns is often used repeatedly over a long period of time. This frequent repetition can engrain the number in one’s memory.
Significance: The first telephone number is often associated with one’s childhood home or a significant period in one’s life, which can make the number more memorable.
Necessity: In the past, before the advent of smartphones and digital contact lists, people had to memorize or write down important phone numbers. This necessity could have contributed to the long-term retention of these numbers.
However, the need to memorize phone numbers has significantly decreased with the advent of smartphones and digital contact lists. Many people today do not remember phone numbers because they rely on their devices to store and dial them.
