The first telephone communication system known as an exchange was installed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1877. Denoting a practical means of communicating between numerous telephones, the first exchange connecting two major cities was established between New York and Boston in 1883. Consisting of operators managing an expansive switchboard by manually connecting incoming telephone calls to the desired recipient. Almon Strowger of Kansas City developed and patented the first automatic telephone exchange in 1891but manual switchboards remained in common use until the middle of the twentieth century.