Before cell phones, Instagram and Facebook...The original prefix for Butler phone numbers, 679, has a bit of history attached. In the 'old days', your personal number was known as ORchard, followed by five unique numbers. For example, ORchard 95307 would have placed a call to a resident located just northwest of the city limits.
OR represented the first two digits, 6 and 7 as noted by modern phone keypads. Back in the day, you could simply dial 9, then the four digit number to complete your call as well. In the days prior to automation, you picked up your handset, waited for the operator to come on line and told her that you wanted to call orchard 5307. Shazam!
Why was it done this way? Every phone exchange (unique prefix) was given a name. Butler was graced with the name Orchard and hence, the rest is history.
However, the system was designed with a shortcoming- only 10,000 unique numbers could be assigned within an exchange. With the advent of cell phones and the need for additional numbers for computer modems, etc., more exchanges were needed which essentially killed the usefulness of the old system.
Just a note- telephone operators still worked in Butler helping folks place calls into the 1970's at the building located just north of the Pennell building on the square.
Note-the original article has been corrected as there were several exchange names available for the 67* prefix, which included ORange, ORchard, ORiole, ORleans and OSborne.
