Automatic Electric was founded in 1891 as Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company by Kansas City resident Almon Strowger, who invented the first automatic (dial) telephone switch in 1889, and a businessman named Joseph Harris. For decades, AE was a leading supplier of telephone equipment to independent (non-Bell) telephone companies across the United States.

Strowger’s first automatic phones were installed in La Porte, Indiana, in 1892. Instead of a dial, these phones featured four buttons, which had to be pushed in sequence to “dial” the number. For example, to dial 374, the caller would push the first button three times, the second button seven times, and the third button four times. The fourth button would then be pushed once to “place” the call. Buttons were abandoned in 1896 when Strowger engineers Alexander Keith and brothers John and Charles Erickson devised a dial mechanism.

The first Strowger dial telephones, which had pointed switch hooks, had 10 holes for numbers zero through nine, with a partial sunburst radiating from the center of the phone to ...the holes. By 1904, desk stands and wall sets alike featured an eleventh hole, some of which were identified as “Long Distance.” Unbeknownst to customers, dialing “Long Distance” or zero did the same thing. In a concession to branding, switch hooks ended in an “A” beginning in 1905. Mouthpieces also changed, becoming available in porcelain, which was deemed more sanitary than hard rubber or wood.