1997, that's the year I got my first email address at Yahoo right after the internet first came to our town. Still have it.
I got mine in the mid-90’s too. Still have my yahoo and lycos emails. Until last week.
It’s funny because whatever internet company you paid to get online gave you your own email under their domain as well. I’ve probably had about 8 internet service providers over the past 30 years, and at least that many emails under their service. I have no idea what happened to those mailboxes.