Area Code 913 is the area code for telephone exchanges located in the Kansas portion of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The area code formerly covered all of northern Kansas from the Colorado state line to the Missouri state line, but now is only used by a few counties bordering Missouri.
History of area codes in Kansas and also in atchsion
Despite a relatively small population, Kansas was scheduled to receive two area codes under the original North American Numbering Plan proposal from the Bell Telephone Company in 1946. Originally, area codes would follow sequentially based on geography, and under the 1946 plan, Kansas would receive area codes 617 and 618.(1)
In October 1947, the final plan was adopted, and Kansas still had its two area codes, although the numbers had been radically altered from the original plan. The southern half of the state (Dodge City, Emporia, Garden City, Wichita) would receive 316, while the northern half (Kansas City, Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, Hays) would receive 913. All long-distance calls using area codes would not be implemented until late in 1951.
Kansas City's explosion necessitates a new code
The two area codes of Kansas remained constant for more than 40 years, but by the mid-1990s, the proliferation of cell phones, the population explosion in the Kansas City metropolitan area (most notably Johnson County), and deregulation due to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the exchanges for area code 913 were quickly being exhausted.
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, and on February 12, 1997, the NANPA responded by splitting off most of northern Kansas from area code 913 into the new 785 area code. From July 20, 1997 through October 2, 1998, a period of permissive dialing was in use, allowing customers affected by the new area code to use either 913 or 785 when dialing long-distance. On October 3, 1998, the 785 area code became mandatory in the new calling area, and 913 was left to the Kansas City area.
Major cities in area code 913
Major cities formerly in area code 913 (now in area code 785)
Boundaries of area code 913
When area code 785 took away most of the geographic territory of area code 913, the counties of Anderson, Linn, Miami, Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and Atchison kept 913. A portion of Jefferson County still uses the 913 prefix including the cities of: Winchester, Nortonville, and McLouth.
When area code 913 covered all of northern Kansas, the boundary ran from west to east roughly following a path along K-4 and K-96 from the Colorado state line eastward. The code boundary dipped along I-135 in McPherson County and continued east to just north of Emporia in Lyon County along the Kansas Turnpike, and then all the way to the Missouri state line.
See also
List of NANP area codes
External links
