Area code 219

Area code 219 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for Northwest Indiana, including the state's portion of the Chicago metropolitan area, which includes Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, and Jasper Counties. The area code includes the cities of Schererville, Chesterton, Lake Station, Lowell, Crown Point, Cedar Lake, Hobart, Whiting, Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Munster, Griffith, Highland, Portage, Valparaiso, Michigan City, Ogden Dunes, St. John, La Porte, DeMotte, Roselawn, Kouts, Lake Village, and Rensselaer. 219 is largely co-extensive with the Indiana side of the Chicago metropolitan area. Service is provided by AT&T, Frontier Communications, and Northwestern Indiana Telephone Company.

When AT&T published the first configuration of proposed numbering plan areas for a new nationwide numbering and toll call routing system in 1947, Indiana was divided to receive two area codes. Area code 317 served the northern two-thirds of Indiana, while area code 812 served the southern third. In 1948, 317 was cut back to central Indiana, while the northern third of Indiana, including Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, South Bend, Elkhart and Fort Wayne, received area code 219. It was the first new area code after AT&T had published the initial configuration of a nationwide numbering system in 1947.

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