Nope, sorry to say. By the time I was old enough to remember, which would have been around 1965 or 1966, 7-digit dialing had been in place for local calls for many years prior, and party lines were still offered. Area codes were only necessary for long distance dialing and long distance calling cost an absolute fortune.
I worked for AT&T from 1987 through 1997, and 10-digit local dialing had not yet become necessary even then. But within a few years, local exchanges were becoming so congested that NPA (area code, formally known as the Numbering Plan Area) splits were occurring within what had all been single area codes, and those calls were still considered local, so 10-digit dialing became necessary there. Then, once cell phones hit the street and as their popularity exploded, 10-digit dialing for local calls spread like wildfire.
It's still strange to me that because of cell phones the very utility of an area code is now gone as far as "the human side" goes. These days virtually no one ever changes their cell number when they move because mobile phone service effectively killed the idea of long distance service within nations, anyway, and sometimes across certain borders. So everyone got accustomed to dialing 10 digits, and slowly but surely, no one presumed that a call "from" area code X meant the call was actually coming from that area. Your next door neighbor could be calling you on the number they got years ago, and across the country, and have never bothered to change, and never will.
]
www.geeksoutfit.com
