We had a party line when I was a kid. I also remember you only had to dial 5 digits to call someone.
The old rotary phones were great for calling into radio contests. Dial all the numbers and hold the last one till the announcement. I won 3 or 4 times on one radio station. They said I could not be a contestant any more. Vernor's and radio station t-shirts were the prize. I had enough Vernor's for a while.
