On Feb. 16, 1968, Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite stood in the Haleyville mayor’s office, dialed three numbers on a bright red rotary phone and made history for the small northwestern Alabama town.
The numbers he dialed that day were 9-1-1, marking the first use of the nation’s new emergency-response phone system that is now called more than 200 million times each year. Haleyville is so proud of this achievement that the city celebrates the historic moment with an annual 9-1-1 Festival.
– See more at: http://alabamanewscenter.com/2017/06/07/haleyville-answers-the-call-as-an-alabama-community-of-excellence/#sthash.0QGZoLAx.dpuf