Western Electric Rotary Telephone Accent Light

Western Electric, with headquarters in Chicago, produced the majority of telephones in the US for 100 years, building on the original invention of Alexander Graham Bell. The model sold here was introduced in 1949 and became the standard telephone for an entire generation; the most widely produced dial phone ever. Every American home in the country had this phone at some time. To start, Western Electric manufactured the telephone in colors, but only the rich could afford the considerable extra fee. In the mid 1950s, Western Electric finally produced an outstanding array of designer colors at the same economical price as basic black. Cherry red, lime green, turquoise, lemon yellow… At this time, households usually had one rotary phone located in a central room of the house. With the end of an era, the advent of touch-tone phones ended the reign of the rotary dial in 1963.