The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1961-02-16, Page 80,090 $ The TirtiesAdyneille, February 16, 1961
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OPERATING STAFF IN 1938—Here's the staff
operated the Crediton telephone sytem in 1938.
left, Martin Morlock, Alcionna Wuerth, Francis
whichltelephone manager, and Midge Gettinger, chief operator.
From The new dial system for Crediton will come into,effect
Clark, early Sunday, February 19, —Bell photo
CREDITON SWITCHBOARD—Francis Clark's late
THREE GENERATIONS—There have been three gen-
erations of Clarks closely associated with the telephone
development at Crediton. Shown here are Mr. and Mrs.
.James Clark in the early years, Mr. Clark was the first,
telephone manager for the Bell company at Creditori
when a long distance telephone office first opened there
in 1899. The office was located in Mr, Clark's harness
shop on Main street.
Clarke family d minates
:Crediton- phone history
Grandfather was a gay young cle Francis Clark's daughter, The increase in service was
blade; sprouting a wi lrus Merle, before her marriage, al- matched by the growth in the
moustache and raising dust so helped operate the switch-'.nutnber of subscribers, There
clouds with his spanking neW board during the early part of ; were 50 telephone users here
horse and rig, when the tele- the century. ; in ,1921 and 26 years later the
phone first appeared at Credi- The combined telephone of- ' 200th mark was passed.
ton in 1892. fice and harness shop was a Change in staff
fice was opened in James
A )ong distance telephone of- fa
pleasant hours could' be spent! The year .19,17 saw a change
seinating place then, A few 1
o.,manageistup at the tele -
here' especially on a rainy '
Clark's harness shop on Main
'afternoon when the aroma • of :phone exchange here, Mrs. G.
Street that year and. Mr, Clark
became the first telephone
leather, oil and dust spread a i. Heidm an succeeded Mr.
'
representative here Jot the pungent, satisfying fragrance Clark that year, followed by
Bell Company. throughout 'the shop. Mrs. Malcida McCann, the pre-'
It offered a variety of diver- sent chi-
ef operator. Al, the
As a one telephone %commun. present. time Mrs. McCann and
calls sion for young and old alike— present. only long distance , a staff of five handle the tele.:
from watching the skillful
were possible then and village phone requirements of the vil- •
youngsters were often employ. bands of the Clarks transform
ed to deliver phone messages nieces of leather info glisten -
for Mr. Clark whenever a call ;
ng new harness to the eaually With 111P opening of dial bele-
came through for one of the
competent hands of Merle phone service on Sunday, Feb -,e- ,
Clark manipulate the numer- 1..u.ary 19, Crediton will enjoy 1
residents. a communication system as
ous cords on the switchboard
A nominal sum was charged which was located at the back m
of the shop. modern as any on the contin-
for this service depending on ent.
the distance the messenger
CROILIENVIIIIMMIEWIRIMINIMMENIR
Slept at office
Her father, Francis Clark,
had -q
to travel. Within a uarter
of a mile of the telephone of-
fice the charge was five cents:
If the distance extended over
a ctuarter of .a mile but within
half a mile the rate was 10
cents and for distances more
than half a mile the cost was
Clip ,Ernergencies
would take over at nrght, As - Qut For
calls were few and, far he
had a folding bed placed near Ambulance
tween in these early days, he s
the switchboard to give that r•
added touch of comfort. And
20 cents . . . livery charges also for his convenience, a
included. razor strop was hung on the
It wasn't long before busi- side. of the board for an early
ness and industry became in; morning shave, all part of the
creasingly aware of the ad- informality that ear -marked
vantages of communicating 1117 numerous small exchange of -
telephone. 'The year 1906 mark- flees of yesteryear.
ed an important milestone in Tell years after the turn of
the community life of the. vii- the century, the Crediton Rural
lage for,it was that year -that Telephone System began to
saw. telephone exchange service function in the village.
open here w.hert.a .small table- ' ' Founded hy Dr. Joseph Orthe,
like switchboard was installed this company began operating
in ' the, back of Mr, Clark's. with some 35 subscribers. With
harness shop. lieaclattarters at Crediton, they
F irst sUbscribers 'served a general farming area
The first subscribers to have in the townslups of ,Bnidulph.
this service were listed in a Stephen, Usborne and McGilli. somisomposumara
directory for May, 1007, which , vra Y.
also gave the names of all tele- ' In 1926, Dr. Orme sold this
phone users in western On- telephone system to Francis
tario. • Clark, At the time of the sale
daughter, Merle, is shown All with offices on Main the company was serving 200
ervice
DAY OP. NIGHT
Properly-equiPPecl vehicles
with oxygen.
Drivers with St. Johns'
Mribulance Cert'ficates
T. HARRY
HOFFMAN
FUNERAL HOME,
DASHWOOD
Phone Dashwood 70.W
or Grand Bend 20-W
front of the switchboard in the early days. Wearing
the hairdo of the street, they were Charles, subscribers within this arca.
Zwicker and S. Brown, both That 'same :Year Mr. Clark
Ytwiti ear -phone" or "double -bun" type, Merle was telephone operator during the general merchants and dealers also purchased the Centralia.
do *bile'ber father would take over this duty at night. The folding bed, left, and in seeds. H. E. Bilber, a con-rmount Carmel Telephone Com.
razog. strop .were used by Mr, Clark whenever a lull at the switchboard occurred,
„L. veyancer, and J. Molz, a party, another rural company
grocer, were listed and so was that had been operating in the
the Sovereign Bank. Mo in- same area and which was
eluded were H. Sweitzer, a also founded by Dr, Joseph
•.• ``',11V:291,31441`;'' miller, and Dr. i' McCue, orme. Mr. Clark then tricot..
In sharp contrast to the porated these two systems
streamlined 'telephones of In. and retainer] the name of
p
• 72=§,7,,,,- -
"*".'• •••••441c • '
"2,k.
•
:-
•11,.<4.
day were the old tune Blake Crediton Rural Telephone Com-
, sets, used by these telephone pany after the merger.
pioneer users which required a , 'Phis company continued to
1 N.46, few hefty revolutions
of a function as an integral part of
crank before contact was made
the telephone system in the
, with central office.
It consisted of three boxes village until the sale to the
ABell'
company in 1947. Al ihe
mounted one above the other
'••• on a board. The box on top time of the sale the Crediton
•
2coom piacity c 1‘,11.1s0 cscervsitniigmeraithincru5t ;
14 •
magneto generator for ringing
'.. contained the receive/. and a 0
central or other subscribers throughout the region.
on the line, The mouthniece
• ,, was in the centre box and the
4:1p, was housed in fhe lowest txr:,
battery for talking current Week urges
More often than not the odd
ri
hag of camphor was placed on
ight h
.P„ the middle box ssann
to prevent the •,
spreading of disease, a useless '
precaution but one widely used
infancy, in
when the telephone was in its "White Cae Week is like a
Until 24.hour Service was in. 'tKol"nikneaedlt6cekil'auirrn(Thasfler°7dtli*HtHir:
ctiTerldtiletceild istli•thls9c11.3,16eit.lsiesec ce:Al‘‘i " CoffnIV advisory hoard to
I he Canadian National Institute
make their calls between iii,, for the Blind. "130th provide
hours of / a,rn, and 9p.m: a community service, :Both re-
durSiltigtAandh; Week
o1tekI0 ho10
: 2 thow'4Pinble. , ; ii)riatlt
rntriih(01.eiiixeenvsent)ts,
r"th° time of
on ent
morning and afternoon on hob.lreld annually b,v the CCE
days, and The Canadian_ National
Telephone talk with the rest Watic's:ftlictitilatesis n£065v11.reirtt:IeiillYeejltTliitcYllicerian'iliiintiellAci
Limited ran§e In
n
.
of the country was also limit- with (mid leaising,
cd in those early years to On.
Carlo and Quebec and to within This year thc W h i to Cane
a range of .1,000 Miles in the Week 8160111 is "share' ?bur
United States. A far cry from` Sight With tht'• Sighti"L"
(Ire -intim telephone ens. se1C'vforial 'cli'.111Y1'“qlotrisitl5a°111111rigt6tivi'ionntit
tanee A '
the alibriat untestrirted ens.
,.r, t, 'b. I FM ft, g rltit' t rep. services rendered /)s, Mc par- how IO suslYte Your needs. g There have been three gen- Weelrl6sonn,vdatISk6ii'146 wtili6thgitTitrd buinillnd
1,1 '
tether can span tOdaY,
•*.r,esentative for the Ontario and it bodies. , review of the dues formula, orations of Clarks closely as- dOWS, ten any business 10Cg-
qatiadiatt Chatilbet Of COM' ROO Ricks, seeretai'y or the conducting a nic.mbersliin•eatri. sociated with the telephone tiim, chAtIles, arid talk About
*dee, Will tend/let a Seminar, Grand Bend and Are& Chaniber, paign find keeping MerliberS hvelonnietit in the community, the untistfal incidents that often
iof the Grand Bend and Area of Commerce, said Mr Irwin ' aold iVrr. Clark's 'two' scill, Air'I unfold before your oyes. Offer
OiOrilbet of .Coitiniercer MbIl- WbItid aSalaf the group hi at. Mr, 'flicks has gent ifivita.r and FrantiS, both had charge to write letters ler blind. neigh.
(l'asq. . taitlifig tiltqr objective of 'InitetiS: le SeVellit •munieipal of of the exchange at varionq bots (sr to read to thelii, Offer
/te Will .ilisettaS polley Anti -creased tr.ficlency, a r e A ltt fitialS in the ;area as well as Units. Alfred nialittgett the of- to provide ltotleloiL To
•,tithey itatf.ctig td.lating .to the girength and v;i:e.rded Ustful.. toklitg. littAlliegg then's Or:OM:Mt. lite 1,6? a ,abort PatiOti ill 1000 th'Iv# a tightl°SS Pers°° to Ill°
ki
'We, nrgartilittlefiS t r6prt,
e.
oAg. 16frowd by Pralid18. Whil re, ilentigt, to the alienPing een
Aefiti; anti Will Provide the, The sereleer will lie tentluel. The vetieilez will lie hod ift *tallied to teleplietie iteiiAni, (re Or ti trip down town is A
Grand Bend grOilp .an iippo1. lid under the following see. the Grand llend town hall at here: for some 46 years. wonderful way to "share 'Ytitir
tfInify fe review St5fild of the Eons: the program d wok,11:66 fi.Pi. 'to vletc Tile flutil, eir. Sight."'
NEW DIAL TELEPHONE BUILDING FOR cum -rem EXCHANGE
—Doerr photo
Plan Grand Bend seminar
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