Area code 785
Area Code 785 covers telephone exchanges in most of northern Kansas. It was created as a split from 913 on July 20, 1997. Area code 785 . It stretches from the Colorado state line on the west to the Missouri state line on the east, while excluding the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which retained 913. The largest city (by population) covered by the area code is the state capital of Topeka.
History of area codes in Kansas
When area codes were implemented in 1946 the southern half of the state (Dodge City, Emporia, Garden City, Wichita) would receive 316, while the northern half (Kansas City, Topeka, Lawrence, Manhattan, Salina, Hays) would receive 913. The north-south division is unusual for Kansas, a state which usually sees east-west geographic disputes. However, all three of the state's largest cities--Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City--are in the eastern half of the state, along with the great majority of the state's landlines. Hence, the north-south divide was necessary.
This configuration remained in place for 40 years. However, by the mid-1990s, 913 was close to exhaustion due to the popularity of cell phones and pagers (especially in the Kansas City suburbs, Topeka, and Lawrence), as well as the rapid growth of the Kansas City area. The supply of numbers was further limited because the entire Kansas City metropolitan area is a single LATA that extends across large stretches of eastern Kansas and western Missouri, meaning many numbers in Missouri's area code 816 were unavailable for use.
Late in 1996, the Kansas Corporation Commission, which oversees telecommunications in the state, requested relief from the NANPA for the exchanges of area code 913. On February 12, 1997, the NANPA announced that 913 would be cut back to the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, while most of the western portion of the old 913 territory would split off into the new 785 area code. 785 began its split on July 20, 1997; permissive dialing continued until October 3, 1998.
The bulk of 785's landlines and cell phones are in the eastern portion, in and around Topeka and Lawrence. Despite this, 785 is nowhere near exhaustion, and under current projections will remain in its present configuration for the foreseeable future.[1]
Major cities in area code 785
Boundaries of area code 785
The boundary between 785 and area code 620, which covers southern Kansas outside of the Wichita metropolitan area, runs from west to east roughly following a path along K-4 and K-96. The code boundary dips along I-135 in McPherson County and continues east to just north of Emporia in Lyon County along the Kansas Turnpike. At this point, area code 785 reaches its easternmost boundary with the current boundary for area code 913, although a small portion of the northeast corner of Kansas across the Missouri River from St. Joseph, Missouri is part of 785.
The area code covers the entire counties of Anderson, Cheyenne, Franklin, Rawlins, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Smith, Jewell, Republic, Washington, Nemaha, Marshall, Brown, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, Graham, Rooks, Osborne, Mitchell, Lincoln, Cloud, Ottawa, Clay, Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson, Wallace, Logan, Gove, Trego, Ness, Rush, Ellis, Russell, Ellsworth, Saline, Dickinson, Geary, Wabaunsee, Shawnee, Osage, and Douglas, as well as portions of Doniphan, Atchison, Coffey, Lyon, Jefferson, Morris and McPherson counties.
The counties of Linn, Miami, Johnson, Wyandotte, and Leavenworth remain wholly in area code 913.
One exception to this rule is the city of Elwood, which retained the 913 area code while the rest of Doniphan County switched to 785. This is because Elwood receives its dialtone from St. Joseph, Missouri, which is part of the Kansas City, Missouri LATA, located in area code 816. It would have been too expensive for Southwestern Bell to rewire Elwood's trunk so it could follow the rest of Doniphan County into 785. All bordering 816/913 rate centers have each other's area codes.
See also
- "Area Code Maps". NANPA.
References
External links
- List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 785 Area Code
- Area Code History[permanent dead link]
- 1947 Area Code Assignment Plan
- List of exchanges split off from Area Code 913 to Area Code 785[permanent dead link]
| North: 308, 402 | ||
| West: 719, 970 | area code 785 | East: 660, 816, 913 |
| South: 620 | ||
| Colorado area codes: 303/720/983, 719, 970 | ||
| Missouri area codes: 314/557, 417, 573/235, 636, 660, 816/975 | ||
| Nebraska area codes: 308, 402/531 | ||