Area Code 405

Area code 405 was created on January 1, 1947, as one of the original 77 US NANP area codes. It covered the entire state of Oklahoma and was named after the street address of Southwestern Bell's Oklahoma City headquarters at 405 Broadway. Bell engineers selected this address as the area code when designing the original NANP map. Oklahoma's telephone history stretches back decades before 1947.

Pre-NANP Telephone History:

• 1880: First sound transmitted over long-distance wires in Oklahoma. A regimental band at Fort Reno broadcast music 70 miles via telegraph wires to Fort Sill. Source: 405 Magazine
• 1884: Officers at Fort Reno strung a dedicated telephone line across the Canadian River to the Darlington Indian Agency.
• 1886: First commercial telephone line in Indian Territory, connecting Tahlequah to Muskogee. Cherokee elder George "Soggy" Sanders tested the line and approved: "It talks in Cherokee." Source: 405 Magazine
• 1893: Oklahoma City received its first telephone.
• 1907: At statehood, Oklahoma had 68,125 telephones, 715 networks, and over 100,000 miles of wire. Source: 405 Magazine

NANP Milestones:

• 1947: Area code 405 created as one of the original 77 US NANP codes, initially covering all of Oklahoma. Named after the Southwestern Bell headquarters at 405 Broadway. Source: NANPA
• 1953: First split. Area code 918 was created for northeastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa. 405 retained central and western Oklahoma. Source: NANPA
• 1997: Second split. Area code 580 was created for western and southern Oklahoma, reducing 405 to the central Oklahoma region. After this split, 405 became the only Oklahoma area code that does not border another state. Source: NANPA
• 2017: NANPA projected 405 exhaustion by Q2 2021 due to Oklahoma City metro growth and mobile device proliferation. Source: Oklahoma OCC
• 2020: Oklahoma Corporation Commission approved the 572 all-services overlay for 405 on January 9, 2020. Source: Oklahoma OCC
• 2021: Mandatory 10-digit dialing began and area code 572 was activated as an overlay for 405. Existing 405 numbers remained unchanged. Source: Oklahoma OCC

After the 918 split in 1953, 405 remained unchanged for 44 years until the 580 split in 1997, one of the longest periods of stability for any original NANP area code. The code now serves the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, including cities such as Norman, Edmond, Moore, Midwest City, Stillwater, Shawnee, El Reno, and Guthrie.

The regulatory management of area code 405 has been handled primarily through the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, with oversight from NANPA. The code has undergone three major numbering events over its 79-year history, transitioning from a statewide code to a single-metro overlay with 572.

These regulatory actions reflect the shift from geographic splits to overlays as the standard method of area code relief, preserving existing subscriber numbers while accommodating growth in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.