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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1950-08-10, Page 3THURSDAY, AUGUST 3 960 Clinton Pioneered in Use Of Telephone (By C. B.'SYrXONIIS, District itlanager, Bell Telephone.;Compaey), Clinton ris one ' of the, few 'centres in Canada that already had telephone service when The Bell Telephone Company of Can- ada was incorporated in. 1880:' True, the extent of the service was not great --,i. ; A. Yuile, a local resident, had leased a pri- vate line from , Alexander Mel- ville Bell,father of the inventor in July 1879—but there was a telephone in this town at :the time when the inventionwas still considered by many,as an impractical toy. Clinton, small as it was, never- theless had its progressive ; citi- zens, men of vision;' who settled here and made gpod, Even as far : back as '85, such well -re- membered names as the Dohertys, the Fairs,: the Farrow. the Jack- sons and the Ransfords had left theirmarks in theannals of the town's eomniercial=history. They were also amongst the first to re- cognize the business and social value of the telephone. The Rumba!, Family There also was 'another fam- ily the J. B. Rumballs - who wrote a chapter extending almost 45 years in the history of the telephone In Clinton. It was in 1889 that 'J. B. Rum - ball became Bell Telephone agent here. The primitive switchboard located at 'the rear of his jewel- lery store served 16 subscribers. hen Mrn Rumball died in 1908, s wife, Clara, who already had ained extensiveexperience, at e switchboard, ,took over the pervision of the agency and a following year was' officially amed Bell Telephone manager ere, a post She ably fulfilled ntil her retirement in 1P33. She saw the "exchange switch- rd grow 'until five operators ere required to handle thous, nes of calls made daily by 326 ocal and 570 rural subscribers t the time of her retirement. The Rumballs had long before cqulred the title: Mr. and hers. elephone of Clinton._ But the ora of the family's Interest in the development of the telephone industry was not to' sod there. Long before her retirement, Mrs. Rumball's son, Ray, came into the picture, as night operator at the local switchboard. Years's went by and Ray moved on to other. telephone duties elsewhere. But in 1919,, when Clinton's manager became ill, who else could be chosen to; replace her, but, her son, then local manager at God erich, Torbay, Raymond 3..Rum- ball is general plant. placement supervisor -of the. 'Bell Company in Montreal. • First.'Service in 1881 Regular telephone .service first became available here in 1881, when W. H. Ransford was, darn- ed agent for the young company. Three years later, eight suhscrib- ers had telephone service but no record of their names has'ever been discovered. In 1885,. the directory, a small, pocket-size booklet which con- tained the names of all telephone. subscribers- in the "Ontario De partment' of the 'Company. -list-, ed ten subscribers in Clinton. The directory ;contained no num- bers as, at that -time, telephone' users were called for by name. William Jackson was then Iocal agent, and the switchboard, was located in a corner of his Gent's Furnishings store. He was succeeded In 1887 by R. W. Coats and the switchboard was : moved again to Mr. Coats' jewellery store. Two years lat- er, he sold his business to J. B. ilumball who took over the man- agement of the exchange. The, switchboard was not to move for a long, , long time. For almo t 45 years it.was under: the direc- tion of J. B. Ruinbali and his wife Clara. ' `, Milestone in' 1939 An important milestone in Weal telephone history was marked 'on July 5, 1939. On that day the exchange was converted from the magneto , system to common bat- tery operation. Subscribers no longer had to turn a crank to reach the operator. It was fit- ting -that on that oeaasion the honor of placing the first two calls were extended to Mrs, Wii- CLINTON NEWS -RECORD -- OLD BOYS', SOUVENIR EDITION 'Remember This Store? 'THE ABOVE building occupied the site on which the Poet' Office, now standsand was torn down to make room for it. It was used as a 'store, aria dwelling by H. Wiltse. This' building, which at one time- was considered 'about' the best in Huron County, was erected by Moore and. Hunter and used by _them for, years, as a dry 'goods store. The men -shown in the picture are, reading from left to right; the late W. Brydone, who was then a young lawyer, just building up a practise and has his little brief bag under 'his arm; the late Joseph Rattenbury and the late F. Tomlinson, Bruce- field; the late J. Rider' who died ifs July 1925, is sitting; A. Porter being immediately behind himn the late Rev. W. H, Newcombe and the. late Thomas Jackson;' Sr.; the late George Mclennan and Bert Wiltse.- • Liam Jackson and Mrs. 'Clara Rumball. ' • At pre§ent the. Cilntda' ex- change is in the charge of Miss, Helen Taylor, chief operator, and the office is ' under the 'super- vision of C. B. Symadds, Bell. Telephone manager at 'Goderich. rs! Chevrolet's great Waive -in -Head engines can do_more work per gallon of gas than 'tiny other gasoline engine of the same displacement now in use. They're smooth, rugged and powerful -masters of the job! %/Payload Le Low operating and repair costs of Chevrolet trucks are an outgrowth of finest engineering and rugged Advance -Design construction. Chevrolet trucks let you deliver the goods with real reduction in cost per ton per mile..'°' VPopuiarity Leaders! For the last full year, Chevrolet outsold all competition, That's evidence of owner satisfaction earned through the years - proof, yes proof beyond any question or doubt, that Chevrolet is the most -wanted truck. V Price Lie . a You're money ahead with these new Chevrolet trucks! Chevrolet's rock- bottom initial cost -outstandingly low cost'of operation and maintenance .and high trade-in value, all add up to the -lowest price for you.' - There are seven switchboard positions in operation., here at present--a'far,ery"from the days when ten subscribers had tele- phone service here. An average of 5,500 local and 450, long -dis- tance calls pass through the local switchboard every day. • NEW ERA WAS STARTED? 18 8 5- 85 YEARS 'AGO ' (Continued from Page he was getting a little. tired •of ,teaching. (Poor fellow?):. He kept his eyes open and discovered, a defunet newspaper plant in Blyth, which the purchased in December 1880.: Then .the question arose: was he going to, publish a' paper in Blyth or' was 'he going to starP afresh: somewhere else?- Tory Arguments, "Sway The Conservative Party, load- ers in Clinton decided the issue. They mastrong induclemLen to move' the" paper to Clinton as opposition to e New Era, which -was provingde itself strongy ib- eral and Free Trade; The plant . was removed to- Clinton, .and, presto, in the first week of January 1881 - one of the' toughest times of the year for any' weekly newspaper — a brand new paper, the Huron Record, had' come into, being. Each'issue contained eight pages, five columns In width,- and it was turned out on a Washington hand. press, operated in turn :by var- ious members of the staff, Incidentally, the staff consist- ed of Edward Floody, the editor, two,, printers, and two "devils". The first office was located in the then new Victoria. Block, over Twitchell's harness shop,' now occupied by Pattison's store. Later, it' was removed 'to On- tario S•t., and for the past 55 years has ' been located in its. present two-storey brick build- ing on ; the east . side of Albert St. Paper Progresses Evidently, the new paper took very well with the merchants and others,,for there was no dearth of advertising, and subscriptions rolled in ,with the assistance of manyfriands of 'the paper, and the ,Conservative Party, : as well ole many Liberals who were anxious to discover what made the new watch, tick. When things were going pretty well,' Mr. Floody disposed of The Record in May 1882. to' a part- nership consisting. of ' A. H. Blackeby, factory, inspector -with the Dominion Government, end J. oval,foremanof The Galt' Reporter.InN' vethber 1882, however, they sold out to' N. IL Buchner of The Hamilton Times, but on account of a heavy chattel YOU can expect great things of these new Chevrolet trucks. They're the most powerful trucks Chevrolet has ever built, yet they cost surprisingly little to operate. Three rugged, wonder-working Valve -in - Head engines' - the Thriftmaster924h.p.,, Loc dmaster 105-h.p. and the big new 110-h.p. Torquemaster--bring,,you per- formance that saves you timeand money. New Power -Jet carburetion provides smooih,-quick acceleration, and the 4 - Speed Synchro-Mesh '.transmission is standard equipment.from the 1 -ton to the 3 -ton (optional in 1/2 and 34 -ton) which means faster shifting and greater safety on the grades. To you, this means wonderful new performance . . less time on the road . , lower cost per ton - mild. So do yourself a favor: Visit our showroom today, Chevrolet trucks -and only Chevrolet trucks_ --provide what you want! A GENERAL MOTORS VALUE Ar''VA CE.IDE5IGN1 TRUCKS CT -5506 LORNE PAGE NINETEEN :rs. Lela Hoover Ward Is ;Eminent 'Musician Harry Siartliff has received a very , sorrowful negative answer from Mrs. Lela (I{oover.t Ward, Guelph, stating'she will be urs able to attends the corning Old Boys'', Reunion; "Mrs. Ward will be remembered by a' number of citizens from this area as she is a daughter of the late J.;"'.2". Heel- er, former Mayor' of Clinton.: Mrs.. Ward .- and her ; daughter, Mrs. ,Ruth' Ward Farrell, w h o resides in Connecticut, have made a great success of the music books Which they have, had 'jiuhiished,. A commentary from The Globe and Mail reads:, "It is hard to find anything more attractive' to children than such old familiar tales as -The Three Bears, But The Three Bears, while retaining all their original charm, have taken on the added glamour of music and some very delightful drawings in a new book with story', and illustrations by Ruth Ward Farrell and music by Lela Hoover Ward. Very young child- ren will love it" - Another 'article from T h e Guelph Daily ' Mercuryof an earlier date reads:' `Prom ideas put in practice in her own piano teaching _ experience, Mrs. Lela Hoover Ward has composed and. published two 'very interesting books, delightfully illustrated by her daughter, Mrs. Ruth Ward Farrell. "Jibbidy-F and A,C.E" is a 'child's, first piano book, de- signed. primarily', to teach the pupil the names of the notes, to read music accurately and easily, arid good fingering habits. It con- tains : songs to capture.) the imag- ination of the young, . the apt illustrations adding further int- erest. A , "Sugar and Spice" foilaws' the child's ' first piano book, It is filled with rhythpis and tunes for beginners arid again Ales. Farrell's illustrations. "Mrs. Ward, -Licentiate of the Royal.Conservatory of Music, To- ronto, studied music under Frank Weisman, . B`. Hagunga Carman, and composition. ,from the late mortgage, the latter remained at the helm, only two weeks, the plant reverting to Edward Floody once more. "News" and "Record" Shortly afterward, the business was' sold to Whitely and Todd of The Goderich New,s. They re- moved part. of their plant to. Clinton: and changed the name. of the paper: to The Clinton News -Record Several years later, about half a century ago, the paper was disposed of to W. J. Mitchell, Hanover, whose daughter-in-law, Mrs. G. H. Mitchell, still publishes The Hanover Post, Mr. Mitchell's death occurred very suddenly in London In, October 1916, where- upon G. E. Hall, an employee, purchased the business. The News -Record continued to flourish under the guidance and the editorship of Miss Mabel R. Clark, and when 3.' Leslie .Kerr decided to dispose of The New Era in October 1924, Mr. Hall bought the rival paper and amal- gamated it with The News - Record, the latter name continu- I I ,. Dr. Humphrey Anger. She taught music at Havergal College for five years. Following her mar- riage, Mrs. Ward during residence in New York, was a pupil of Ethel Newcomb, `and of Sigis- mund Stojowski, the latter a pupil of. Paderewski. "Mrs. Farrell, a former, pupil at the' Guelph Collegiate -Voca- tional Institute, `s later attended Pratt Institute and New York Art School, She has illustrated a number of books, and has had pictures hanging in the Art Gal- Iei'y' Exhibition in Connecticut. Mrs. Farrell lives In the country near New London, Conn., where her husband, a scientist, is en- gaged „in research at the Under- water Sound Laboratories for 'the United. States Government. "Mrs. Word is president of the - Guelph Registered Music Teach- ers' Association. She has taught In Guelph for 30 years In a long career of music she has been concert pianist, ac_nnpanist, or- ganist and chow leader but new devotes -all her th-e to teaching piano. "Two more books from the versatile pen, of Mrs. Lela Ward are to be published shortly, "Zoo Songs" to ' playand sing, and "The Three Bears in Song and Story.0• u . the letters start. Then. many readers of THE CHRIS- TIAN ' SCIENCE -MONITOR" I tell the Editor how'much:they enjoy this daily worid.wide newspaper. "The Monitor is the most !! carefully edited news- paper in ews-paperin the U. S. . " "Valuable aid in teach- ing.... 'News that is consplete and /dr. . . . "The Monitor surely is a reader's necessity ..." You, too, will End the Monitor informative, with complete world news .... and as neces- , sary as your. TOME TOWN ` ' paper. Use this coupon for a Special Introductory subscription -26 ISSUES FOR ONLY $1—And listen Tuesday nights over ABC , stations to "The Christian Science Monitor Views the News." The plebeian Science Monitor One, Norway Sc,, Boston I5,11fass., V.S.A. Please send me an introductory sub. scription to The Christian Science Monitor -26 issues. 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