| Please note that this table is still under construction. As a result, you cannot assume that I do not have data on those exchanges that are not listed. Instead, what you can more likely assume is that I just have not had time to enter the data yet. |
| Also, there are going to be a lot of dead links at the present time. This is because when I add data for a particular exchange to one table, I do not necessarily add the same exchange's data to all the other relevant tables. So please excuse these problems. |
| I do, however, want feedback on whether you like the format of this site and any suggestions you have for improving it. Please e-mail comments to me on those points. |
The following table lists exchange names used in New York after December 1930, when the format of telephone numbers changed from three letters and four digits (three-letter exchange names) to two letters and five digits (two-letter-one-digit exchange names). This is one of a series of tables covering the post-1930 period, and if you have not already read the information on the master page of the set, you are advised to do so. Exchanges are listed in the order of the numeric equivalents of the two-letter-plus-digit prefixes. (For a table with the exchanges ordered alphabetically by exchange name, click here. For a table with the exchanges ordered by the two-letter prefixes and third digits, click here.)
The primary table for this era is the one ordered by exchange name, which contains more information on each exchange than is given here. To see the table entry for any exchange name in that table, click on the middle part of the name. In particular, that table shows the correspondence between these post-1930 exchanges that used two letters and 1 digit in the exchange part (two letters and five digits for the whole telephone number) and the pre-1930 three-letter exchanges. In addition there is a table ordered by the combinations of two letters and 1 digit which can be reached by clicking either on the first two letters of the exchange name or the final digit.
Where the same 3-digit prefix is shown for two or more exchange name/office number combinations, usually this means
that one name was discontinued and subsequently a new exchange was set up with the same numeric equivalent. The details
are given on the page with the table ordered by exchange name, and the specific details
can be obtained by clicking on the middle part of the name, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. In a few cases,
simultaneous utilization of both name/number combinations happened, usually in the context of a renaming; this will
be noted on this page as well as on the alphabetic list page.
NOTE 1: The situation regarding BRowning exchanges is very confused. A 1955 directory shows BRowning 2 in Westchester County, but in a 1957 directory it is shown in Brooklyn. In 1959 it is also shown in Brooklyn, but in a different zone. This zone is also shown for Browning 2 in subsequent directories dated 1960 and later. The 1959 directory also shows BRowning 5 and 6, in Queens, but a 1960 directory does not show BRowning 6, and puts BRowning 5 in a different Queens zone. In addition, the 1960 directory shows an AR 5 exchange, which would conflict with BRowning 5. What can only be concluded is that the listings in these directories reflected planned new exchanges, not actual ones in service. BRowning 2 may not have actually been implemented until after 1957, BRowning 5 (if at all; see the listing for TUlip 5 in Note 5 below) till after 1959, and BRowning 6 not at all.
NOTE 2: The directory dated May 1948 (corrected to March 9, 1948) shows a new LUxemburg 2 exchange. The July 1949 (corrected to April 25, 1949) directory also includes a new JUdson 2 exchange, which would be dialed as an identical 482. Apparently the 482 exchange was introduced with the name LUxemburg 2 in the 1947-1948 period, but the name was locally disliked and was changed to JUdson 2, but already-issued LUxemburg 2 numbers were not immediately changed.
NOTE 3: The changes from ORchard 4 to ORegon 4, and from WAshington Heights 7 to WAdsworth 7, were not made at one single time. It would seem that new telephones were assigned the new name, but old telephones were not immediately changed, and directories from 1939 to 1957 showed both ORchard and ORegon 4, and as early as 1945 showed both WAshington Heights 7 and WAdsworth 7. By 1959, the change was complete.
NOTE 4: The 1957 directory consulted shows both TRiangle 6 and TRafalgar 6. These are not likely to have both existed at the same time. Neither the 1955 nor the 1959 directory shows TRiangle 6, while TRafalgar 6 appears in both the 1959 directory and earlier ones (The 1955 directory is unclear), which probably means that the reference to TRiangle 6 in the 1957 directory is in error. Until I am certain, however, this site will show TRiangle 6 as existing in 1957, though not in 1955 or 1959. More investigation is necessary.
NOTE 5: A 1959 telephone directory that I have seen shows a TUlip 5 exchange in the North Bronx. This would have the numeric equivalent of 885, exactly the same as the TT5 exchange started in 1960 in the same North Bronx zone. It is impossible that both could be in existence at the same time, so my suspicion is that the telephone company had planned, at the time the 1959 directory was printed, to introduce TUlip 5, and so put it in the zone list of exchanges for the benefit of customers who might have had to call numbers in that exchange while the 1960 directory had not yet come out, but by the time the exchange was opened, they named it TT5. This is simply speculation on my part, however. The fact that the telephone company predicted changes in advance is also shown by the fact that the 1960 directory shows both CIty Island 8 and TT5. This would indicate that the directory was printed when the exchange was still CIty Island 8, but the table listed TT5 so that subscribers could find TT5 in the table to compute their charges after the exchange was renamed.
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Last modified November 3, 2011.