February 16

On this day - February 16th 1968 - The first 911 emergency system 

9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for any country using the North American Numbering Plan. Before the 911 number was agreed on people just opened the line and was set over to an operator. In an emergency they would simple state that it was an emergency and which branch of emergency they needed. The first emergency number was experimented with in 1937 in the UK with the number 999. The first emergency number in North America was in Canada using 999 again, but it was switched to 911 when it was proposed by the USA. In 1968 the number 9-1-1 was agreed upon and AT&T chose the number 9-1-1 and the first ever 9-1-1 call was made by Alabama speaker of the House Rankin Fite to U.S representativ Tom Bevill at the police station. Later in 1968 9-1-1 became the national emergency number for the entire United States.