The First 911 Call
(continued)

He put technicians on the job, and less than a month later, he put out a press release of his own, giving February 16 as the start date for 911 calls in the northeast Alabama town of Haleyville. When the day arrived, Thomas Bevill, a U.S. Representative from Alabama, grabbed a chair at the Haleyville police station. The first call came from city hall, and Bevill answered with "Hello?" After a brief exchange, he hung up, there were handshakes all around, and history was made. There's no record of why 911 was chosen as the three digits, but the most logical conclusion is that the number matched the 411 and 611 numbers commonly used around the country for directory service and repair requests, respectively.

Source: Mental Floss, LLC (www.mentalfloss.com)

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