History of phone company, Part II

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash
 
In last week’s installment of “History on Main,” historian Leonard Cash went through his records about the Hansen and Peck law firm, whose office is located next to the News Letter Journal building. Before becoming a law practice, however, it was the office for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Co. This week, Cash picks up where he left off last week with an article from Dec. 31, 1953. 
Dale Hill, the manager of the phone company, said it was relocating and would open a temporary office in the basement of the library on Jan. 6, before closing the old office in February. 
Later, the paper reported on June 3, 1954, that a contract was secured by Riedesel Lowe Construction Co. from Billings to construct a new office for the telephone company on Summit Avenue. Cash said it was located across the street from what is now Isabella’s alley and Patrick Crow’s law office. It was expected to be completed around Sept. 24. 
“Ground breaking ceremonies were held last Wednesday to launch construction of a new telephone building on South Sumner Avenue in Newcastle,” says the June 17, 1954, edition of the News Letter. Mayor Earl Z. Crum was given the honor of digging the first shovelful. 
A few weeks earlier, the May 20, 1954, issue had reported that telephones in Newcastle were updating from the operator system to a dial system. 
The week of Oct. 7, 1954, the telephone company moved into its new building. Manager Hill supervised the move from the temporary quarters in the library, and now all the work would be done in the new building. Several men from Western Electric Co. were working on installing the new dial system, which was a four-to-five-month project. Western Electric planned to bring in 28 more technicians within the next month to help with the installation. 
Like former manager Clyde Heck, Hill was transferred to Casper, so William F. Nolan became the new manager of the office, according to a Nov. 18, 1954, article. 
On March 17, 1955, the paper reported that the telephone company installed “tons of new equipment” in the new building, and it was “just one part of the overall job at expanding telephone service,” according to Nolan. The dial system was going to start on April 16, according to an article from March 31, 1955.
Some $425,000 was spent to “expand and improve the telephone service” in town, says a report from May 12, 1955. An open house was to be held on Thursday and Friday, May 12 and 13, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. 
“The dial equipment will be available for inspection and telephone people will explain how it handles calls,” the article says. “The new ‘Speakerphone’ will be demonstrated. It has a microphone and loudspeaker which enables you to carry on a telephone conversation by merely pushing a button. The equipment display features ‘Modern Telephone Service for Modern Living.’”
The total number of telephones expected to be switched to the dial system was 1,900, according to a report from 1955 reprinted on April 18, 1985. 
“The cutover will take place about midnight when the volume of telephone calls is low, and services will be interrupted for only a short time,” the article says.
County Attorney Chester Jones and Deputy County Attorney Richard Dumbrill moved from the courthouse into the former telephone office, according to the Dec. 18, 1958, issue of the paper, on lot 7, block 9 (18 West Main). Jones’ term was ending on Jan. 5, 1959, and he wasn’t seeking re-election after holding the position since 1948. Dumbrill hadn’t been in office quite as long because he didn’t become the deputy until June of 1952. 
According to an article from Oct. 20, 1966, two contracts were awarded. At a cost of $11,885, Microflect Co. of Salem was to “furnish and install a passive microwave repeater at a site 1.3 miles southwest of Newcastle.” This would bring more long-distance circuits to Newcastle’s residents. 
Lower and Cool, Inc., of Casper was the company receiving the other contract. At a cost of $11,700, the company was to install an 80-foot microwave tower base, which was to “be constructed adjacent to the rear of the present Newcastle Exchange building,” and to erect a retaining wall along the telephone company’s property on the north side.
By Jan. 5, 1967, the projects were completed. Additionally, Telectric Co. of St. Louis was installing a microwave reflector on the top of the tower, as well as a “parabolic dish antenna” near the bottom. 
“Work on office equipment to convert to local circuits has begun by a four-man team from Western Electric,” the article says.
After managing the company for 35 years, Nolan finally retired, according to an article from March 8, 1973, so Vincent Keogh became the new manager for Mountain Bell (which is short for Mountain States Telephone Co., according to Cash). 
A few years later, the Dec. 10, 1981, paper announced that Don Hansen joined the law firm in the former telephone office next to the News Letter in September of 1975, and that finishes out Cash’s records on the telephone office. 
He wanted to mention that the telephone company was once located in the Antler’s hotel. Around 1902, it moved upstairs of what is now Graphic Design on block 7, which is two lots down from the ceramic shop. Then in 1920, it moved into a building on Seneca Street (now an apartment building), but Cash isn’t sure why the telephone company moved out. Finally, it moved into a house across the street from the Methodist church before eventually winding up next to the News Letter Journal, which is where the series started. 
Because this was a short series, Cash also wanted to include a section about Dr. Horton’s office. In an article titled “Horton Moves Equipment to New Offices” from Aug 16, 1938, Newcastle’s Dr. W.O. Horton relocated his office to a newly constructed building on block 9 behind the old city hall (now Fresh Start), to what was “probably one of the finest of its kind in the state.”
It was 48 feet by 26 feet and had many rooms, including a reception room, a consultation room, treatment room with walnut furniture, a physiotherapy room and an emergency room that held a door leading to the outside. Block 9 is just a house now, Cash thinks. 
“Decorations and furnishings are of pleasing shade and in modernistic type, making the offices and equipment among the best in the state,” the article says.
However, more than a decade later, the clinic and Drs. Virgil L. Thorpe, Willis M. Franz and E.J. Guilfoyle were moved across the street from the old high school, according to an article from July 26, 1951, where there were “many advantages over the old clinic.” Cash said this building is currently across from the Assembly of God church, and the former clinic behind Fresh Start is probably just a house now. Today, the clinic sits on the opposite side of the hospital over in the east side of town. 
To cap off this week’s installment of “History on Main,” Cash is including a poem called “The Telephone Girl” published in the June 27, 1921, paper.
“The telephone girl sits in her chair and listens to voices from ev’rywhere. She hears all the gossip, she hears all the news, she knows who is happy and who has the blues, she knows all our sorrows, she knows all our joys. She knows all the girls who are chasing the boys. She knows all our troubles, she
knows all our strife, she knows every man who is mean to his wife. She knows every time we’re out with the boys. She hears the excuses each one employs. She knows every man who is inclined to be fast. In fact, there is a secret in each saucy curl of that quiet petite looking telephone girl. If the telephone girl would tell all she knows, she would turn our best friends into bitterest foes. She would sow a small wind that would soon be a gale, engulf us in trouble or land us in jail, she could let go a story which gaining in force, would cause half the wives to sue for divorce. She could get all our churches mixed up in a fight. In fact, she could keep the whole town in a stew, if she told a tenth part of the things that she knew. now doesn’t it make your old head whirl, when you think what you owe the telephone girl.”
 
The History on Main series continues next week.