The first telephone exchange was installed this U.S. city.
New Haven, Conn.
Dayton, Ohio
New York City, New York
Philadelphia, Penn.
New Haven, Conn. Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876 and presented a lecture about the device in New Haven the following year. In 1878, George W. Coy, inspired by Bell’s lecture, obtained a franchise from Bell Telephone and installed the first telephone exchange. The first phone "book" was a single sheet of paper.