August 13, 1889

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Joel Byers

On August 13, 1889, William Gray of Connecticut was issued a patent for a coin-operated telephone. For teenagers today, a payphone was a telephone in a public place where you could put coins in it to call your mom or dad to come and get you. Contrary to common knowledge, there are still some payphones still in operation and if you’re lucky, you can sometimes see them in the wild, in their natural habitat, such as a mall, seedy amusement park, or prison. Some of these still feed off of coins instead of having evolved to consume credit cards. Please be careful when approaching one, as you may learn that Tim Loves Tink or for a good time call Della at 555-1212.

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About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
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One Response to August 13, 1889

  1. A. Millennial says:
    August 13, 2019 at 5:00 am

    This is funny, but it can’t be real.

    Why would anybody ever pay money to use a “pay phone”, instead of just using their phone? I guess maybe if your battery’s dead or you don’t have service? Maybe?

    It still sounds fake to me though.

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