The first transcontinental call to San Francisco was tested by Vail in 1914, after the last pole was wired into the line. However, AT&T waited to officially launch service in conjunction with the 1915 celebrations of the Panama Pacific Exposition, the year also marked the opening of the Panama Canal.

Image Courtesy of Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers.

Irving Underhill, photographer.

Bell, center, sits at the table with two important relics of the first telephone call: the coiled wire that carried his voice to Watson and a replica of the first phone. A portrait of Theodore Vail hangs above the group. To the crowd's delight, Bell said, “Mr. Watson, please come here. I want you” to which Watson replied, “It would take a week or two for me to do that now.”

Vail, unable to travel due to a fall, joined the call from Jekyll Island, GA. In order to connect Vail to President Wilson, Watson, and Bell, an extra 1,000 miles of wire had to be added to reach Jekyll Island.

Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.