My great uncle ran a country phone exchange out of his house for many years in a small crossroads farming town in middle Tennessee throughout much of my youth in the 40s and 50s. My great aunt and cousin operated the switchboard from one of their bedrooms and uncle Alvis maintained the entire system, climbing poles the old-fashioned way - replacing broken wires and glass insulators as needed. All the home phones I recall in his Bell system were wall-mounted wood-cased crank types just as you described.
In my little country town not far away, we were in tall cotton with Bell System rotary dial phones after sometime in the 50s, although many subscribers had to be on party lines. I remember my dad habitually answering the phone saying "our ring?"
I wound up going into electrical engineering and my great uncle and his strong curiosity about electricity was one of my early inspirations. I really miss the old Bell System because it was probably the most reliable major system America has ever had, including military and industrial equipment. Far more so than all the disposable junk we're saddled with now!
KY..........
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