On this date in 1915, east and west were linked by voice in the first transcontinental phone call. This event was a conference call involving Alexander Graham Bell in New York, his assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco, President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, and the president of American Telephone and Telegraph in Georgia. Using the new, commercial service was a major financial commitment. The charge for a three-minute call from New York to San Francisco started at $20.70. That’s over $474 today. Over 97 percent of America’s households have phone service. Users of landline phones pay an average of $434 for a year. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.