On This Day

World's first home telephone is installed in Somerville, Massachusetts at the house of Charles Williams Jr. [1]

The Charles Williams Jr. House, built in 1858, is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Charles Williams Jr.

The Charles Williams Jr. House, built in 1858, is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Charles Williams Jr. was a manufacturer of electrical telegraph instruments at 109 Court Street in Boston. Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson experimented with the telephone in Williams' shop, and it was there that they first heard indistinct sounds transmitted on June 2, 1875. The first permanent residential telephone service in the world was installed at this house in 1877, connecting Williams' home with his shop on Court Street in Boston. Williams had telephone Numbers 1 and 2 of the Bell Telephone Company.

Historical Significance

The Charles Williams Jr.

Events Before

  1. The Reichsbank, the central bank of the German Empire, opens in Berlin

    The Reichsbank, the central bank of the German Empire, opens in Berlin

  2. Albert Spalding invests $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball,

    Albert Spalding invests $800 to start a sporting goods company, manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, and football

  3. Julius Wolff opens the Wolff & Reesing Cannery, the first US sardine factory, in Eastport, Maine

    Julius Wolff opens the Wolff & Reesing Cannery, the first US sardine factory, in Eastport, Maine

  4. Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents, the Supreme Court eventually rules Bell th

    Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents, the Supreme Court eventually rules Bell the rightful inventor

  5. Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine

    Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff in Eastport, Maine

Events After

  1. First US bicycle club, the Boston Bicycle Club, forms

    The Capital Bicycle Club was an early American cycling club based in Washington, D.C.

  2. Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his cylinder phonograph [1]

    A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound.

  3. 53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount

    53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount Street, London

  4. W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "H.M.S. Pinafore" premieres in London, their first international success

    H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert.

  5. Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish

    Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78

More from the 1870s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on April 15, 1877?
The Charles Williams Jr. House, built in 1858, is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Charles Williams Jr.
Why is World's first home telephone is installed in Somerville, Massachusetts at the... significant?
The Charles Williams Jr.

Explore More