 The Sherman Courier
Wednesday, August 15, 1917 Fiftieth Anniversary Edition Section 3, pg. 1, 20 SHERMAN'S FIRST PHONE SERVICE An Account of the Organization of the System in January 1879 The following article taken from The Courier of January 30, 1879, gives a very interesting account of the organization of Sherman's first telephone system, thirty-eight years ago. Sherman will have a telephone system pretty soon. Mr. Keller of Chicago, the telephone superintendent, who was in the city several days last week arranging for the construction of the line, returned to Austin Saturday night. Actual work will not be begun here for two or three weeks. The poles for the wire are to be of cedar, and forty feet long, and they will have to be shipped a considerable distance. Until they come, very little can be done. Mr. Keller did not rent a building, but the office will probably be on the east side of the square. He wants a room for four years. The fifty subscribers were secured with much hard work, persuasion and assurance as a result of most business men thinking the telephone was impractical for their particular business. It was announced that an exchange would also be installed at Denison and one of the inducements offered was that the citizens of the two cities would be able to talk to each other over long distance - the possiblity of which most people doubted. The two exchanges were installd, thus creating the beginning of local and long distance telephone business in Grayson County. Now that the requisite number of fifty subscribers have been secured for the telephone exchange to insure its success, it will be of interest to know who will have the privilege of swearing at long range. Here is the list: Merchants and Planters National Bank Pittman & Harrison The Sherman Courier George Oatman Sherman Ice Works H. & T.C. freight depot T. & P. freight depot Beiler Bros. Moore & Ansley Tom Forbes' residence Rom Forbes' office M. Schneider & Bros. store M. Schneider's residence Dick Walsh Cullers & Henry C. Metz & Bro. Byers Bros. A. Harrington E. Eppstein & Co. Archinard & Zintgraff's office E.R. Archinard's residence Ed Zintgraff's residence Lankford & Finley District Clerk's office Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association R.R. Dulin's store R.R. Dulin's residence Sherman Compress Ben Brewer's stable Mammoth Hall J.W. Hearne's office L.C. Gilmore Thomas & Chapman Fire Station Patty, Joiner & Wells Sherman Oil Mills E.B. Waples & Co. R.G. Hall & Son J.L. Kennedy Fulton & Jarrett Mark Andrews Dave Williams' barber shop Dr. W.E. Saunders' residence Dr. C.W. Pierce's residence Washington Iron Works Roberts, Hardwicke & Taylor street car stables Union Depot Binkley House Harry Jones' residence John Donaldson, postmaster Phillips & Warrick City Bank From this simple beginning, it was more than 20 years before the telephone became recognized as an important factor in the transaction of business. About 1900 the independent telephone companies entered the field with improved apparatus and a more liberal policy causing an increase in the number of telephone users. From 1902 until June 9, 1917 there were two telephone exchanges operating in Sherman, but with the demand for more comprehensive coverage than could be furnished by either of these companies, the two systems were consolidated under one ownership and management. The Grayson Telephone Co. succeeded to the ownership of the consolidated system and succeeded in building one modern up-to-date exchange. The Grayson Telephone Co. in 1917 had 19 telephone exchanges and served more than 7,500 subscribers. To operate the telephone system in Sherman required the services of more than 75 men and women due to the average of 21,058 local calls and over 800 long distance calls being handled by the Sherman switchboard on a daily basis.  Sherman History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |