50th Anniversary Since The First 911 Call Was Made

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Friday marked 50 years since the very first 911 call was made.

The call was made in Haleyville, Alabama by then Speaker of the House Rankin Fite.

Fite called from the Haleyville mayor’s office to U.S. House of Representative Tom Bevill who was in the Haleyville police station.

A lot has changed since that first phone call, especially when it comes to technology.

“We did write on paper, we did have a computer but at times the computer systems would go down, we would do it on paper,” said Joyce White, who’s worked as a dispatcher at the Columbus Lowndes E911 for 13 years. “When people would call we would have to write down their address, phone number, what was going on. When we dispatched an agency out we did have to keep up with their times as well, who went, what times, when they went on the call, got on scene and completed, so it was a lot of paperwork and it’s much easier now with the computer systems.”

The phone that was used to make that phone call 50 years ago is on display in the lobby of Haleyville City Hall.