Southern Bell

Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1879; 145 years ago (1879)
FateRenamed to BellSouth
SuccessorSBT&T Co.
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia, U.S.
ProductsLocal telephone service
ParentAmerican Bell (1879–1899)
AT&T (1899–1983)
BellSouth (1984–2006)
The "new" AT&T (2006–present)[1]

Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company is the regional Bell Operating Company serving the Southeastern United States of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. However, the Southern Bell name isn't used anymore as of 1992 although the network still exists.[2] It also covered the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee until 1968 when those were split off to form South Central Bell.

The company was originally known as the Atlanta Telephonic Exchange, having been created to service citizens of Atlanta in 1879, before it was renamed in 1882.[3]

Southern Bell also operated in Charleston and other parts of West Virginia, from 1883 until 1917, when the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia took over operations there.[4]

  1. ^ "The Bell System Telephone Companies: Then and Today". The Bell System Memorials. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Bell System Telephone Companies–Then and Now". The Bell System Memorials. Retrieved August 8, 2024..
  3. ^ Conor Lee (February 21, 2014). "Southern Bell Telephone Company Building". historyatlanta.com. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  4. ^ "Verizon West Virginia: Company History". Verizon. 2009. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. It begins operations on Jan. 1, 1917, assuming the West Virginia operations of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Co., The Chesapeake and Potomac of Maryland and Southern Bell.