Pacific Northwest Bell

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Formed in 1961, Pacific Northwest Bell became the familiar telephone company for Washington, Oregon, and northern Idaho. Headquartered in Seattle, it connected millions of homes and businesses during an era when the telephone company didn’t just provide your service — it usually provided the telephone sitting on your kitchen wall too.

Then Ma Bell got broken up.

When the Bell System was dismantled in 1984, Pacific Northwest Bell became part of the newly created US West. The familiar name hung around for a few more years before disappearing as US West consolidated its regional telephone companies in 1991.

One phone company became a Baby Bell, the Baby Bell became US West, US West became Qwest, Qwest became CenturyLink, and CenturyLink became Lumen.

Your phone number may have been easier to remember than the name of your phone company.

Explore our Pacific Northwest Bell collection celebrating one of the great vanished regional names of the Bell System.