Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876 and the first commercial exchange opened in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878. Switched telephone networks spread rapidly through business districts, threading overhead wires and then underground ducts through city streets. The telephone let firms separate management from production and coordinate dispersed operations, reinforcing the central business district while enabling later decentralisation. Telephone exchanges and cable routes became a hidden layer of urban infrastructure.
The telephone decoupled communication from physical movement, strengthening downtown office districts and laying the social and physical groundwork for later networked cities.
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