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Buffalo Dial Plan circa 1960

Curtis R Anderson
July 6, 2010

Abstract
Buffalo, New York was one of the last cities in the United States to
convert from “named exchange” dialing to the seven digit dialing we are
used to today. Here is a look at what local calling in Buffalo looked like at
the time of the conversion.
This is a work in progress. Additions will be made as they are discov-
ered. Corrections and suggestions are always welcome.

1 Rationale
As the nation emerged from World War II, demand for telephone service in-
creased. With it, people were moving away from their friends and family. Busi-
nesses were expanding with the post-WWII economy, making more calls as nec-
essary to support their expansion. As with radio, the fledgling medium television
could share space on the long distance microwave and telephone network [1], but
needed sustantially more bandwidth than a radio program. This meant a need for
a more complex telephone network, which also allowed more and cheaper long
distance calling. Demand for long distance calling increased faster than operators
could be trained to perform functions such as toll accounting, taking the number
to call, and returning time and charges. It became apparent that the telephone user
would have to dial his own long distance calls. This resulted in the North Amer-
ican Numbering Plan [2]. With this, a need to dial ten digits across the United
States and Canada was realized.
Well into the late 1950s as customer initiated toll dialing was being deployed
to customers, some cities like Buffalo continued to use “named exchange” dialing
for local calls. A number such as “UNiversity 2368” would be dialed. Such a

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number could not be dialed directly by a customer, even one which could directly
dial a toll call. These calls would still be handled by the long distance operator,
often reached by dialing 211 or a similar service code. The outward toll operator
in this case would ask the Buffalo inward toll operator to dial UNiversity 2368 for
the customer.

2 The Topology
Figure 1 on the following page shows how the exchanges were converted from
names to numbers. The chart is grouped by central office and subgrouped by
presumed switch type. Some of the exchange names are not named by any type
of local street or landmark in the vicinity of the central office. It is presumed that
these exchanges which were meant to service post-WWII growth in the suburban
areas were of the No. 5 crossbar type. These will be documented somewhat in § 3.

3 Telephone Switch Types


The author has had an opportunity to terminate telephone calls on some of the
exchanges listed in figure 1 on the following page during the 1980s. In the best
order of recollection, Figure 2 on page 4 is a partial list of switch types by ex-
change code. It must be noted that the author learned how to recognize sounds
of No. 5 crossbar from being a youngster in nearby Rochester, whose exchanges
were all No. 5 crossbar with the exception of the more rural exchanges served by
Rochester Telephone.

References
[1] A. T. Corbin and A. S. May. Broadband horn reflector antenna. Bell Lab-
oratories Record, 33:401–404, November 1955. Found at http://www.long-
lines.net/tech-equip/radio/BLR1155/401.html.

[2] Pacific Telephone. Survey of Telephone Switching. Pacific Telephone, 1958.

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Grand Island Tonawanda Williamsville–Cayuga
GDISNYGI TNWNNYTW WSVLNYNC
BRidge RR 3 773 DUdley NX 5 695 ATwater TF 9 839
LUdlow RR 4 774 EVergreen NX 4 694 OXford NF 4 634
JAckson NX 2 692 PLaza NF 2 632
SPring NF 3 633

Buffalo–Hertel Buffalo–Main Lancaster


BFLONYHE BFLONYMA LNCSNYLC
DElaware TR 9 873 AMherst TF 2 832 MUrray NT 4 684
RIverside TR 5 875 PArkside TF 3 833 REgent NT 3 683
BEdford TR 6 876 UNiversity TF 4 834
WIndsor TF 5 835 West Seneca–Union
VIctoria TR 7 877
WSNCNYUN
CIrcle TF 6 836
HObart NR 4 674
EXport TF 8 838

Buffalo–Elmwood Buffalo–Bailey East Aurora


BFLONYEL BFLONYBA EAURNYEA
ELmwood TT 2 882 BAiley TX 4 894 CYpress NL 2 652
GArfield TT 3 883 FIllmore TX 5 895 NT 7 687
GRant TT 4 884 KEystone TX 6 896
LIncoln TT 5 885 Orchard Park–Sunset
HUmboldt TX 2 892
SUmmer TT 6 886 ORPKNYST
TAylor TX 3 893
TUpper TT 7 887 IDlewood NN 2 662

Buffalo–Franklin Buffalo–South Park Hamburg


BFLONYFR BFLONYSP HMBGNYHB
CLeveland TL 2 882 FAirview TA 4 824 EMerson NH 9 649
MAdison TL 5 855 SOuth TA 5 825
MOhawk TL 6 856 TRiangle TA 2 822
NIagara TL 7 857 WOodlawn TA 3 823
WAshington TL 4 854

Figure 1: Buffalo Dialplan Topology

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839 1981–04 Called to Snyder at this time and recognized the No. 5
crossbar ringback cadence.
836 1986–03 Called a college classmate. Recognized No. 5 crossbar
ringback.
838 1986–03 Called businesses in the vicinity of University at Buffalo.
Recognized No. 5 crossbar ringback.
674 1986–08 Called a bulletin board system in West Seneca. Recog-
nized No. 5 crossbar ringback.
892 1987–02 Called a bulletin board system run at Erie County Med-
ical Center and noticed extra clicks before hearing the
older style “metropolitan” modulated ringback tone as-
sociated with No. 1 crossbar. Presumably the last of the
No. 1 crossbar switches operated in Buffalo.
823 2006–06 A discussion with my “significant other” regarding re-
membering that her family changed a telephone number
from 824–XXXX to 823–XXXX in the early ’70s to take
advantage of tone dialing. This would have made 823 a
No. 5 crossbar and 824 most likely a No. 1 crossbar and
less likely a panel system.

Figure 2: Exchanges With Known Switch Types

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