> Initially, this upgrade came in the form of automatic dialing, tech that allowed callers to reach other each other directly. Invented in 1889 by Almon B. Stro

> Initially, this upgrade came in the form of automatic dialing, tech that allowed callers to reach other each other directly. Invented in 1889 by Almon B. Strowger, a Kansas City funeral director who set out to establish a “girl-less, cuss-less telephone,” automatic dialing ushered in the era of rotary phones. The real impetus to Strowger is that the other undertaker in town was married to the phone operator.* So when someone called and said they had a dead body strowger didn't get the call often even if he was asked for by name. * Often the switchboard was just in someone's house or on their porch, and phone service was just available for a few hours a day, when the owner was willing to sit around and wait for someone to call. So no service while cooking, or at mealtime, or at night.