Chinese Telephone Exchange

Built in 1891, this building served as the first Chinese telephone exchange in the entire United States. No telephones numbers were used. Instead, the operators there were required to speak five dialects of Chinese and to know the number of each subscriber and their respective voices by heart. Eclipsed by modern rotary phone technology, the operation closed in 1949, and currently houses United Commercial Bank. This historic location is also one of several stops that are made as part of the must-experience Chinatown Ghost Tour.