Prior to World War II in the United States, party lines were the primary way residential subscribers acquired local phone service. All the subscribers that shared a party line had the same phone number. When a call was received at that number, all of the subscribers phones will ring. If the line was in use, any of the other subscribers to that line could pick up the phone, listen in and/or participate in the conversation. In order to distinguish one line subscriber from another, operators developed different rings for the lines so that if the call was for the first subscriber to the line, the ring would follow one pattern, if the call was for the second subscriber, the ring would sound another way, and so on.

Here at Hastings-Store.com, our use of the "Party Line" is so that you, our customers, can better communicate with us, and are able to find us if you are evern in our neck of the woods and want to visit our store.