AT&T Archives: We Make Telephones

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A 1980 profile of Western Electric's Indianapolis Works — a wordless film (once you get past the intro) about the people, the phones they make, and how they manufactured and tested them.

The filmmakers knuckled down to produce neat behind-the-scenes shots from the assembly line — detailed bits of the phone-making process, without exposition, right down to the packaging of the telephones. The film also ventures into the testing department — the impact rooms and hot and cold rooms (exposition would actually enhance this film in these sequences).

After the breakup of AT&T, this plant only survived 2 more years; it was shut down in 1986. The Indianapolis Works, surprisingly, was still making rotary phones (among others, including the Trimline series) up until 1985! These were the same heavy-duty, long-lasting phones that were originally only available to rent, not buy — at least until the 1980s.

For another film perspective on the Indianapolis Works, see Draw Me A Telephone, a film from the same era.

Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ