“I remember being on a party line for a while.”
I still have our old phone. Not even a rotary dial on it. Just a round plate with the number. And the number was (Town name #XX). Everyone had a different ring, ours was one long two shorts...
And yes we had busybodies who listened in on other’s phone calls... Years later after we got modern phones I still kept that phone on our service business office desk. Just about every customer would ask if they could use our phone and they would tie up our one business line. So I would say “sure” and point to that old phone with no dial. They would stare it it for about five minutes and then come back out and say “never mind”. lol :)
I used to have a pair of wooden crank phones that mount on the wall. What possessed me to part with them is still a mystery.