<P> In 1892, AT&T built an interconnected long - distance telephone network, which reached from New York to Chicago, the technological limit for non-amplified wiring . Users often did not use their own phone for such connections, but made an appointment to use a special long - distance telephone booth or "silence cabinet" equipped with 4 - wire telephones and other advanced technology . The invention of loading coils extended the range to Denver in 1911, again reaching a technological limit . A major research venture and contest led to the development of the audion--originally invented by Lee De Forest and greatly improved by others in the years between 1907 and 1914--which provided the means for telephone signals to reach from coast to coast . Such transcontinental calling was made possible in 1914 but was not showcased until early 1915, as a promotion for the upcoming Panama--Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in the spring of the same year . </P> <P> On January 25, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell ceremonially sent the first transcontinental telephone call from 15 Dey Street in New York City, which was received by his former assistant Thomas A. Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco . This process, nevertheless, involved five intermediary telephone operators and took 23 minutes to connect by manually patching in the route of the call . </P> <P> "On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two - mile (3 km) wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston . It was the first wire conversation ever held . Yesterday afternoon the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400 - mile (5,500 km) wire between New York and San Francisco . Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent . They heard each other much more distinctly than they did in their first talk thirty - eight years ago ." </P> <P> On November 10, 1951, the first direct dial long - distance telephone call in North America was placed from Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey to Mayor Frank Osborne of Alameda, California via AT&T's Bell System . The ten digit call (seven digits plus a three - digit area code) was connected automatically within 18 seconds . </P>

Where was the first long distance phone call made