The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company Call Center

Here follows an excerpt from "Post WW2 History of Springfield, Virginia and The Crestwood Construction Corporation" as written by Robyn Carter:

In these days of cell phones, communication is pretty much taken for granted as being instantaneous, but in the years 1952-55, not only did early residents have to depend on what is today called land lines, they also had to endure something that few of us today can imagine ... a party line system. In that time phone lines to an area like Springfield were minimal. Because the community transformed so quickly from rural to suburban and because phone lines were extremely expensive to run, it took quite a bit of time for the service to catch up to the exploding population. Residents often shared a line with 8 to 9 other households with only a single call per line at a time and a special combination of ring tones that alerted each resident if the call was for them, or one of their neighbors on the line. One temporary solution was to place a telephone booth at the SW corner of Amherst Ave and Highland Street. That booth proved to be so busy with use that a second one was installed on the corner of Craig Street and Highland. Both booths were removed as of February 15, 1954 because The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company had installed a new cable to the area at a then whopping cost of $256,000. Additional help with service came when a new telephone exchange building was constructed at 6538 Little River Turnpike that helped take care of the Springfield call load. Completed in 1955, the building still exists today with some additions.