File:Old AT&T Sign (6308162080).jpg

An old relic of an era gone by.

American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (AT&T) was pretty much the only phone service in the US before 1984, running a monopoly. So much so that its nickname was "Ma Bell." Then in 1984, it was broken up into several regional "Baby Bells." Here in Pennsylvania, Bell of Pennsylvania came into being, as a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic, which also ran New Jersey Bell. Other Baby Bells, such as NYNEX (New York and New England), US West (most of the West), and Pacific Telesis (California and Nevada), came into being, with different brand names for each state (New York Telephone, Pacific Bell, etc.). AT&T continued to exist but was limited to long-distance calls.

The deregulation and consolidation of the industry in recent years, however, saw Baby Bells merging into fewer, larger companies. Bell Atlantic and NYNEX are now part of Verizon (formerly GTE), while Southwestern Bell (SBC) and Pacific Bell merged, and in turn acquired AT&T and its name. While the name AT&T lives on, it really belongs to one of the Baby Bells now, one who outgrew and swallowed its mother.

This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 00000849.