The first true rotary phone appeared in 1892 and was installed in La Porte, Indiana. This rotary dial phone was built around Almon Brown Strowgers 1891 patent design. These early rotary phones used lugs on the finger plate rather than the more recognizable holes that came later.

What year was the last rotary phone made?

The last standard rotary-dial telephone to be manufactured by Western Electric was the Trimline, introduced in 1965.

Do old rotary phones still work?

As long as those switches still support rotary dialing, and most do, the old phones will work. Fiber homes have something called an Optical Network Termination unit, or ONT, in the house that translates the light pulses into electricity that can be carried by the copper wires inside your house.

How long did rotary phones last?

Until the 1970s, when push button tone dial was introduced, rotary phones were the only viable option for user controlled phones. By the 1980s most rotary phones were phased out.