Homes, Trades and Games of Long Ago · Drawing 39 of 40
Hello, who’s there?
The 20th century
This telephone has no screen and no buttons. To call someone, you turn the dial one number at a time. A curly cord ties the handset to the phone: no walking away with it!
Look together
Which part do you hold near your ear?
An idea to try
Make a pretend telephone from an empty box. Your child acts out dialling an invented number, then takes turns exchanging a short message with you.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
The telephone came early to Montréal: the Bell Telephone Company of Canada was founded there on April 29, 1880. For decades, to make a call you lifted the receiver and an operator connected you. In 1925, a year after Toronto, Bell launched automatic service in Montréal: the dial appeared, and subscribers had to learn to dial the digits themselves, look up a number in the directory and recognize the tones. The handset in the drawing is tied to the phone by a cord: no taking it with you.
With your child, look separately at the dial, the handset and the cord, then compare with a phone they know. The drawing does not date the invention of the telephone; it shows how a communication device shapes the gestures of the person using it.
Sources and illustration notes (3)
An interpreted rotary telephone; no brand or invention date is assigned to this model.
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. References identify the institution and the related lesson; some linked pages are in French.
- Pointe-à-Callière — Hello, Montréal! Bell’s Historical CollectionsMontréal’s telephone history, how telephones changed over time, and the rotary dial.
- Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec — Compagnie de téléphone Bell du Canada (in French)Founded in Montréal on April 29, 1880.
- The Bell Telephone Company of Canada — Annual Report, 1925, p. 8In 1925, the Lancaster, Harbour and Amherst automatic exchanges went into service in Montréal (Bell annual report, 1925).
Page prepared on September 15, 2026. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
This drawing is from the book Life in Old Québec to Colour
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