Historic Moment : Telephone service

By Jorge Batlle

Village Historian

Some background on this.  Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875. Mr. Morse invented the telegraph in 1844.  In 1851 Hiram Sibley organized the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, NY. Ezra Cornell formed the New York and Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856.  They were in fierce competition and finally merged into the Western Union Telegraph Company. The first telephone company was American Bell Telephone Company, formed  in 1877, in New Haven, Conn.  In 1881 it bought out Western Electric Company form Western Union. Western Electric was a phone service unit

American Telephone and Telegraph Company (known as AT&T) was formed in 1885 to create a nationwide long distance network. From New York, it reached Chicago in 1892. It reached San Francisco in 1915. Trans Atlantic service started in 1927 using shortwave radio. The first trans Atlantic cable was installed in 1956.

Skaneateles – there were small mentions of the telephone in the local newspapers. In 1877, just 2 years after Bell invented the telephone, an small story stated that An exhibition of this new instrument was made at the Academy on Monday evening by the agents of this company. The practical working of the instrument was preceded by an explanation  of the theory of the device. Also there was the terms which the company charges for the rental of the telephone at $40.00 per year and a deposit of $50 for each phone….people in attendance were disappointed with the workings of it. Although the other operator was just a short distance from the Academy the vibration were weak, necessitating use in a very quiet room. With all its imperfections it is a wonderful discovery.”

The Minutes of the Village Board of April 19, 1880 state: …”the Clerk to notify Western Union Telegraph  Co. to remove all telegraph poles from the ditches of the road such wherever the occur within the Corporation.”

January 1883 The Skaneateles Free Press mentions a meeting of The Skaneateles Telephone Company stating line have been set and in working order between: Northern Mutual Telegraph Company, FG Weeks residence, Skaneateles Paper Company, Lakeside Paper Company, Glenside Woolen Company, and other locations north of the Village. “A charge of ten cents will be made for conversations of 5 minutes of less to all persons not subscribers.”

The next reference in the newspaper is the announcement in the November 10, 1883 issue of the Auburn Bulletin stating:  “This afternoon telephone connection was completed in order for business with Skaneateles. The line to Syracuse will probably be ready for operations by Thursday.”

The Village Trustees’ Minutes of September 18, 1900 state that the Central New York Telephone Company can add poles on Genesee Street and remove poles at Genesee and Jordan, and all poles are to be painted olive green.

There has been no mention of the Village franchising telegraph or telephone service until January 20, 1902. The Auburn Telephone Company asked for a franchise, and it was granted on January 27, 1902.

February 27, 1902. It mentions the construction of a telephone plant and service. The franchise was granted to Howard Fluhrer and E. Clarence Aiken for The Skaneateles Telephone Company. Their proposal was to use the existing Village’s electric poles for their wires and cables. The franchise fee was the placement of 5 ‘free’ telephones: in the Electric Station, in the residences of the Superintendent of Water and Superintendent of Light, and 2 for the use of the Commissioners. This franchise was not exclusive and the Village could grant franchises to others. Completion of the system had to be finished by July 1, 1902.  In 1911 this company through reorganizations and mergers became part of the New York Telephone Company, part of the Bell System.

April 20, 1903, the Village Trustees denied a request from the Central New York Telephone and Telegraph Company of Utica to operate stating, “in  view of the opposition to further encumbering  the Village streets with more poles.”

Telephone exchanges or central offices were in various locations around the Village. The photo shows a lineman up on a pole outside an exchange located in the upper floor of 32 East Genesee. At one time it was located in the Seitz Building on the corner of Jordan and Genesee. In 1934 a new exchange was built at 8 Jordan Street by the New York Telephone Company. This brick and masonry building is now part of Doug’s Fish Fry. The current building at 16 Fennell Street was built in 1958.

In the then new 1938 exchange a big change was made. Common Battery Service, the turning of a crank to signal the operator was eliminated. Just pick up the hand set. The company replaced your old crank style phone free with a new desk or wall style instrument.

Phone Exchange names – remember the Glenn Miller tune PEnnsylvania 6-5000?  Exchange names were first assigned to geographic areas. This exchange was in New York City around Pennsylvania Station. This was part of the 1940 Bell System numbering plan. In 1955 a list of exchange names was established. Does anyone remember the one assigned to Skaneateles? Overbrook The O represents the digit 6 and the V represents the digit 8.

Nationwide dial tone started in the 1950s. Skaneateles dial service started in May of 1959. Up until 1988 Skaneateles customers only needed to dial 5 and the last 4 numbers to get another Skaneateles phone.  1988 also brought touchtone dialing, speed dialing and 3-way phone calls. This all happened when the mechanical switching equipment in the Fennell Street building was replaced with a computerized system.

Today’s cordless phones and cell phones will be the topic of an Historic Moment for a future Historian.