Area Code 316 - History of Area Codes in Kansas

History of Area Codes in Kansas

Despite a relatively small population, Kansas was scheduled to receive two area codes under the original North American Numbering Plan proposal from the Bell Telephone Company in 1946. Under the original plan, area codes were to be assigned sequentially based on geography; Kansas initially received area codes 617 and 618.(1)

In October 1947, the final plan was adopted; Kansas' two area codes had been radically altered from the original plan. Southern Kansas (Dodge City, Emporia, Garden City, Wichita) received 316, while the northern half (Kansas City, Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, Hays) got 913. Long-distance calls using area codes would not be implemented until late 1951.

Although Kansas has historically been known for rivalries between its western and eastern halves, a north-south split was deemed necessary because its three major metropolitan areas (Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita) are in eastern or central Kansas.

Read more about this topic:  Area Code 316

Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, area, codes and/or kansas:

    The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.
    C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)

    ... until both employers’ and workers’ groups assume responsibility for chastising their own recalcitrant children, they can vainly bay the moon about “ignorant” and “unfair” public criticism. Moreover, their failure to impose voluntarily upon their own groups codes of decency and honor will result in more and more necessity for government control.
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)

    Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)