Hmmm, depending on how quickly wire-technology advanced, it might be that putting early versions up cheaply was the right decision compared to burying cables that might become obsolete a bit sooner than you want to dig them up again.
If you're near Seattle, consider a visit to the Connections Museum [0], where you can walk among working banks of switches (clicking from various simulated internal calls) from various eras, plus samples of old cabling and handsets, etc.
And if you've ever been to cities in Asia or India, Bangkok being one that springs immediately to mind, you'll still see this spaghetti-explosion wiring on streets everywhere.
If you're near Seattle, consider a visit to the Connections Museum [0], where you can walk among working banks of switches (clicking from various simulated internal calls) from various eras, plus samples of old cabling and handsets, etc.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_Museum_Seattle