Telephones, as much as telegraphs, revolutionized communication, but it was a slow revolution for all that. Two years after Thomas Watson heard through the receiver “Come here! I need you!” from another city, a telephone exchange opened in on the West Coast. All calls made had to be routed through the exchange, where switchboard operators would take the caller’s line and plug it to the appropriate opening to complete the connection — which seems like a lot of work until one considers that at the time the exchange had only eighteen lines.

On this day, March 17, 1878, the first major city telephone exchange began operating, in San Francisco. Western Union, the telephone operator, was close to abandoning the technology altogether, before changing their mind and building out the telephone infrastructure.

Western Union had good reason to doubt the practicality of telephones. As no exchanges existed at the time of Bell and Watson’s demonstration, range was a major issue. As was quality: early transmissions did not do well with sound fidelity. Several months after the demonstration, Western Union was offered the patent rights to the entire telephone system for $100,000. They declined.