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Home My WebLink AboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 71....,••••••••••,0••,••••••••••••••••••,..••••••ttat've•••tt.,..a.a.••1," . OrP• •••••••,• ••4••t, 't•ota'vrt'a•'",",••••••••"‘••••• , • ln 40IY 1879 Clinton's-iftv, telephone wag-lease4 tct4finet; A One ha44403.00100# was placed 000 , -end or 41.00 Which , OP from the American Express and Dorninion Telegraph - °Oleo o'Messrs Glasgow. McPherson and cOMParges we**. Rental. was tendollars Per year, and the one instrument serve AS Wilt transmitter and receiver being titoved"from month to ear as tho- uSerspokeorliStened. On April 29440 the Bell TelePhone Co.,. of Canada' Was incorporated (today Bell Canada is a Canadian owned company). , L Y 1880 theleleVaPh•compantes * had entered the telephone field; ani4, the Bell Co. purchased the telephone interests of these telegraph '°Companies and nu4nett their exchanges to ane per city. Clinton's, first exchange *pent(' in November 1891 when a small switchboard was installed In William Jackson's Gents Furth:thing Store. Mr. Jackson " • was appointed agent for the Bell' ,• Co.- , Local Service, only, was avallgtle in° Clinton until 1884 when the Sell Co, strung 57 miles Of No. 9 -iron wire on 51 miles of poles from Stratford, through Mitchell, Seaforth and Clinton, to Coderich making law -distance— service possible. The Clinton directory for )885 listed one dozen subscribers and ' the telephone office on, Victoria St., was open for business from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays; from; • to 4 p.m. on Sundays; and fronM.-- a.m. until noon And 2 to 4 p.m. on holidays. An interesting notice on r. the directory pages read: "Should the telephone tran- smitter be out of order it is possible to use the hand telephone". (The telephone in use was the Blake magneto wall telephone). First available° Directory • listing for Clinton, Ontario. 1885 — Subscribers: John Cunningham, Express Agent Agent; W. Doherty & Co., Organ Factory; James Fair, Flour Mill; Farrar*, Macpherson, and Hovey. Foundry; Grand Trunk Railway Station; Great North West Telegraph Co. ° Office; Huron News -Record: Printing Office..., Wm, Jackton. Gent's • Furnishing; New Era, Printing Office; John Ransford, Residence; R. Ransford, Residence; R. Ransford, Salt Over the teleplione agentiiiit the Same time. By 1891 there were 27 telephones In In Clinton; 54 -In use in 1094. Or. 1.W. Shaw, general arnetitioner had the same number for over 81 years. Continuous, .24 hour44eY service was .put late effect of. fteially en May 1, 18940- BY. 100 Clinton's directory listed 85 tel In 1901 the long diStance line between Clinton and Viringham was made MetthliO.0 and during 1992 the 100th telephone was installed in Clinton and by November there were 110 telephones in the town. Raymond John Ross Rum - tall, son of Mr. and Vors. Rumball, became a night operator at the Clinton office on July 1, 1905. He later became local Manager at Godericb. In 1907 Mrs. Clara Rumba' WaS appointed. local Manager at Clinton. At the' begilming of her service the business office. was Located at •the rear of the jewellery store where Dr, Ken Wood is located now. In 1909 the jewellery business moved over to Isaac St., and the whole store was now used. Mrs. Rumba's duties were to keep the office open, on a continuous basis seven days a •week (including holidays), and to collect rentals and tolls for the Company. By the end of 1909 there were 153 telephones, rates being .00 per month,. M s. Rumba!, became ill in 019 d Miss Lily Lorraine - nedy was appointed Chief Operator that year. Mr, R. Rurnball of ,60derich, was ap- pointed Acting Local Manager at Clinton, as a replacement for his mother. Following her recovery Mrs. Rumbafl continued as 1Vlanager until 1933 when she retired from the Company. • Mrs. Joe (Jessie) Hart recalls working under Mrs. Rumball when she started working for the Bell Telephone Co., in 1925. Kay Nickle also worked under her for a Ume. Miss Kennedy became the local representative. and Mr. J.M. McIntosh of Stratford was put in charge of the Clinton office as well. One of Miss Kennedy's operators established krecord by putting a call,thrngh to Oakland. Calif., in seventeen minutes. Other chief operators as recalled by Mrs. Hart were Katherine Jerry, Mrs. Helen Beale, Mrs. Wood. Mrs. Ruth (Knox) Wyatt. Beatrice McQueen. Mary Wells. • On July 5. 1939 - 349 telephones were changed over from magneto to common bat- tery. flattery power was cen- tralized at the telephone ex- change . and battery. Battery power was centralized at the telephone exchange and battery boxes were removed from sub - works. In 1887 the exhcange was Moved to the Jewellery Store of Robert W. Coats, on Albert St. By • this time 'there were 29 listed • users of the telephone in Clinton, • and subscribers were given notice not to use the phone during a thunderstorm. In 1889 Mr. J.B. Rumball bought Mr. Coats' watchmaking and jewellery business taking • a • Our Congratulations to the Town of Clinton on 100 Years of Growth Progress and Service ATHWELL'S • muraveti-kinc-z.r4.2zuti: AUCTIONEERS LIQUIDATORS Mond sot Ifesdid Wide -Wide Brumfield 4324120 - .• scribers, telephones. World War ; slowed down telephone expansion and there was a backlog "nl' telephone orders in -ClintOnt Coded*. and Stratford areas,s which when filled boosted users Clinton 0500. 1040- Mr. E.O. Wilson had replaced Mr. Vicintesh as District Manager in Stratfor4 withjut over Clinton. Miss Kennedy was -reeleced' by Miss 113. Taylor in 1945 as Line) Representative. in 1947 Mr .LM. Goodwin had general supervision of the Clinton office and in Sep- tember, 1948, two more swit- chboads were added ' to the Clinton exchange, as telephones increased until they reached the 1,000 mark in 1952. In 1949 Mr. C.B. Symonds replaced Mr. Goodwin. In 1954 W.W. kfaysom, Goderich. supervised Clinton's telephone interests. Mrs. Mary (Walton) Jordan, started with the Com - pony in Clinton le 1917, and retired in 1951 after 34 years service. She was honoured at a special social evening and presentation for her years at faithful service. Mary responded with some very interesting tales of the past. She recalls that site had received a weekly wage of $8.00. There were as many as 15 subscribers to a party line. 11 used to be, "hello Mary, what is the hockey score?" Not too long ago the operator had to•pull a switch 10 alert the Clinton Fire Dept. Then the calls would come, in 'from the puhlic wanting to know, "where that fire was?" She- said even if it is an age of progress, you now miss the friendly voices oVer the wire -you got to know these people - they even called tri find out the correct time. "With direct dialing and a twist of the finger you can reach eighty million telephones", she said. In the spring of 1955 con- struction began on i new Com- pany owned building on Rat- tenbury St, West. Cutover to dial system took place in Clinton April 15, 1956. At the time there were 1,500 phones in service and each subscriber received a new telephone number beginning with "Hunter", followed by five digits. The first dial telephone was installed in the home of the Mayor of the town. Mayor Morgan Agnew Ib 1955, but by the time the dial , system was in operation there was a new Mayor. W.J. Miller. Be made the first official call through the new equipinent 10 bis daughter Mrs'. Willard Aiken. The first •long distance call was .made by Mrs. Clara Runiball to her niece in Kingston. Ont. By 1991 the 2.00011, telephone had been installed and Clinton's subscribers were introduced to "All Number" calling in 1983, in preparation for Direct Dialing which came into effect Nov. 15. 1964. As of -December 31. 1974 there were 2,825 telephones in service in Clinton. The present "Chief Operator" is Ruth Lombardo. The Bell Canada work center on Mary Street was built in October '73. • Compiled in rtartfrom Telephone Historical Collection by Mrs, M. Batkin Left to right, Hugh Campbell, Bill Cautts. Paul Rock, Keith Witbee. Mrs. • Carol Collins. Heil McGavin. Mel Craig. Carman Sword, Murray Smith. Congratulations To the Clinton Corranunity on One Century of Progress and Growth. McGAVIN9S FARM EQUIPMENT SALES it SERVICE Phone 527-0245 Walton, Ont. • • •