Site of First Long-Distance Phone Call in Cambridge, Massachusetts

ByContributor

Commemorating the first two-way long distance telephone call.

This unassuming, but attractive brick building happens to be the birthplace of several devices and technologies that changed the world. In 1869, the first monkey wrench was crafted inside this building.

Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho Marathon

This was also the same location that Thomas A. Watson answered the first phone call made over a line. Edwin Land and Polaroid laboratories also called the building home. Two plaques located on the side of the building commemorate its history. 

It’s appropriate that this building is now home to LabCentral, which calls itself, “a launchpad for high-potential life sciences and biotech start-ups.” If you happen to be in the area, be sure to walk around the perimeter of the building to view the facade and plaques. 

Similar Posts

  • To Make Japan’s Original Sushi, First Age Fish for Several Months

    In the Japanese city of Wakayama, a stone’s throw away from ancient castle ruins and the Kumano river, a 74-year-old restaurant called Toho Chaya specializes in an ancient form of sushi. To make narezushi, the restaurant packs rice inside salty fish carcasses and ages them for months. Toho Chaya has always done things the old-fashioned…

  • Interview With Carlos Alazraqui, Co-Writer And Star Of WITNESS INFECTION

    I told Carlos Alazraqui – the iconic voice actor behind characters like Rocko, Spyro the Dragon, Mr. Crocker, and the Taco Bell chihuahua – that writing out this interview as a transcript was like putting a symphony recording inside a glass case; it didn’t do the form justice. And I was absolutely right. Our conversation about…

  • ‘Voyagers’ Delivers Forgettable Teen Drama in Space

    We begin “Voyagers” in 2063, in which Earth is beyond saving and a space expedition is being arranged that will take 86 years to complete. The other big catch? Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe trip to the newly discovered planet will take so long that that young passengers’ offspring will be…

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Explained: Chapter 9 Redeems an Action Figure

    The Mandalorian Explained is our ongoing series that keeps an eye on Lucasfilm’s saga about the Galaxy’s most dangerous single dad. In this entry, we look at what went down in The Mandalorian Chapter 9 — the first episode of Season 2 — and explain how its shocker ending compares to the original premiere reveal….

  • Inside the World’s Largest Jewish Cookbook Collection

    Roberta Saltzman shopped a lot on eBay. Often, her purchases fit into one narrow category: Jewish cookbooks, the more obscure, the better. Never mind that Saltzman, who died in 2014, was by all accounts not that interested in cooking. Over the years, she accumulated 700 Jewish cookbooks, with a particular focus on community cookbooks from…