My family never used credit cards until I was in high school. I wanted a computer so my mother applied for and got a Lechmere card w/$1000 CL. (anybody else remember Lechmere? It was like Best Buy, only it sucked).
Anyway, my first cards were in Spring 1988 after filling out two applications in my college cafeteria lobby-first was the Citibank Visa w/$500 CL (the account number only had 13 digits) and my mother co-signed on a Chemical Bank MC w/$750 CL. I thought that was all the money in the world. I wound up having them both charged off in 1991 when the recession hit me hard.
My mother got a Chemical Bank MC on the same applicaiton w/$1000 CL. She still has the same card today (now Chase) with a $50,000 CL. She PIFs every month and I think she said her highest balance ever was $300.