Then one day in June of 1875, Watson, who was downstairs, heard Bell's voice from the attic: “Mr. Watson, please come here. I want you.” Watson was so excited that he ran upstairs crying “I heard you, Mr. Bell. I heard you clearly.” On that day the telephone had been invented. The words Bell spoke to Watson was the first telephone message ever sent.
Bell and Watson continued to work to improve the telephone. The first long-distance, two-way telephone conversation took place later that same year. It was between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, a distance of two miles.
In 1877, a telephone company was formed. The first telephone exchange was opened the next year in New Haven, Connecticut. It had eight lines and twenty-one telephones. From that time on, telephone systems grew fast. Two years later, there were over 47,000 telephones in the United States. The telephone spread rapidly both here and in Europe. Bell lived to see millions of telephones used all over the world. He had the joy of speaking from coast to coast by telephone. He died shortly before telephone service across the ocean was established. His invention brought him wealth and great honours. He was given many medals and honorary degrees. His invention has often been called one of America's greatest gifts to the world.
When Alexander Graham Bell died on August 2, 1922, all the telephones in the United States were silent for one minute in memory of a great man.