Here's a fun fact for you. St. Ignace was the last town in the United States to have a switchboard operator instead of direct dial telephone service. And would you believe that the service did not change until 1977? This Michigan Bell Telephone Company switchboard station is where the operator would have sat as she connected people to each other. Originally, your phone number consisted of 3 digits. So you would pick up the phone, and ask the operator to connect you to another 3-digit number. It's a far cry from cell phones, to be sure!