On This Day in Telephone History December 9TH 1879 Telephone Numbers Became A Thing. Telephone Numbers – The latter part of 1879 and the early part of 1880 saw the first use of telephone numbers at Lowell, Mass. The story is well substantiated that during an epidemic of measles, Dr. Moses Greeley Parker feared that Lowell’s four operators might succumb and bring about a paralysis of telephone service. He recommended the use of numbers for calling Lowell’s more than 200 subscribers, so that substitute operators might be more easily trained in the event of such an emergency. The telephone management at Lowell feared that the public would take the assignment of numbers as an indignity, but the telephone users saw the practical value of the change immediately and it went into effect with no stir whatsoever.