Area Code 415 - History

History

415 was one of the original three area codes in California, established in 1947. It originally covered central California, south of area code 916 and north of area code 213.

In 1950 its boundaries were realigned: area 916 was reduced to the north-eastern corner of California, while 415 was extended along the north coast to the Oregon border.

For a short time in the early 1950s, area code 318 was temporarily used, initially by customers in Englewood, New Jersey participating in the first customer direct distance dialing experiment to reach San Francisco as well as some areas north of the Golden Gate. In 1953, the entire Bay Area was "reunited" in using area code 415.

Area 415 has been split three times:

• On March 1, 1959, in a three-way split, area code 707 was created for the northern coast (excluding Marin County) and area code 408 for the South Bay.

• On September 2, 1991, area code 510 was created for the East Bay.

• On August 2, 1997, area code 650 was created; the partition approximately followed the boundary between San Francisco, which (along with Marin County) kept 415, and San Mateo County to the south, which received the new code. Deviations from the county line were a very small area east of the San Francisco Golf Club, which was changed to 650, and portions of Brisbane and Daly City, which retained area code 415.