The number 423 has become synonymous with Chattanooga as the area code celebrates its 31st birthday this year. April 23 has even become known as 423 Day in the city.
Despite that, 423 still has a decade to go before it can claim the crown as the Scenic City’s longest-running area code. That title is still held by 615, which was Chattanooga’s second area code and got bumped for a newbie, thanks in large part to technology.
In July 1994, the Tennessee Telephone Association, a group representing the 25 phone companies active in the state that year, proposed a new area code for East Tennessee to take effect in 1996, according to an Associated Press report from the time.
“New numbers are coming on line as a function of growth,” David May, a spokesperson for South Central Bell in Nashville, told the AP.
He said fax machines, pagers and cell phones were combining to take up the roughly 999 prefixes available in any given area. Just the year before, in 1993, Middle and East Tennessee callers had to dial 615 on all long-distance calls in the area for the first time.