125 Years and Still Ringing


Alexander Graham Bell Hello? Today is the 125th anniversary of the first successful telephone communication.

Can you believe that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone while working to improve the telegraph? On March 7, 1876, Bell was issued U.S. Patent No. 174,465 for his new device.

On March 10, Bell successfully transmitted the first intelligible telephone message to his assistant Thomas Watson, who was in the next room. So the words "Mr. Watson, come here; I want to see you," started it all.

Moses Wainer Dykaar created this handsome bust of Alexander Graham Bell, part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

Pictured: Moses Wainer Dykaar, 1884 Russia–1933 USA, Alexander Graham Bell, 1922, plaster, 22 1/2 x 23 x 15 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.