USA > Massachusetts > Tracing the telephone in western Massachusetts, 1877-1930 > Part 32
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Nov., 1924, Topics-When the announcement was made that Arthur S. Caverly, District Plant Chief, Springfield Dis- trict, would be transferred to Providence, the news was re- ceived with regret.
On the morning of Sept. 26, while the men were assembling at the new stockroom on Columbia Terrace for their daily duties, A. L. Dexter, President of Local No. 4, Interna- tional Brotherhood of Telephone Workers, arranged to have Mr. Caverly present and at the same time presented him a complete set of Dr. Charles W. Elliot's Harvard Classics in be- half of the members of Local No. 4, I.B.T.W.
Nov., 1924, Topics-Wallace A. McCoy was recently ap- pointed District Plant Chief of the Springfield District, suc- ceeding A. S. Caverly and upon assuming his new duties was presented a beautiful basket of flowers by Local No. 4, I.B.T.W. "King" first worked for the Telephone Company during vacations while attending school between 1899 and 1907, when he became a Lineman in Boston. Feb. 27, 1910, he was District Foreman at Salem, and after trying his hand at a few more Plant positions he was made District Plant Chief at Lowell on Dec. 1. 1923.
Dec., 1924, Topics-Harold A. Amidon, who has been ap-
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
pointed Manager of the Providence Toll office, entered the employ of the Company in August, 1920. After finishing the student training course, he was assigned to Springfield as As- sistant Traffic Manager. In 1923, after taking the toll training course at Philadelphia, he was appointed Assistant Traffic Manager at Springfield in charge of toll.
Dec., 1924, Topics-When Jack Barry, formerly Manager at Springfield and now District Manager for N.H., left Spring- field to take up his new duties, he spoke briefly in appreciation of the co-operation he had found in a rare degree, both from his associates and from the public.
Manager Shaw, his successor, was presented a large bouquet of roses the day he assumed his new duties.
Dec., 1924, Topics-New Stock Room and Garage.
The Springfield District has recently acquired a new stock room and garage. It is situated on Columbia Terrace and the building has 26,200 feet of floor space and in addition has a yard of 22,500 square feet. There is a large, well equipped workroom where the necessary repair work is done on the cars.
The building also houses a large recreation room and class- room for the men as well as offices of the district foreman, cable foreman, installation foreman and division safety supervisor.
Carl E. Parker, Northampton District Traffic Manager, was transferred to the Western Division Traffic headquarters at Springfield.
Bartholomew A. Curry, who has been with the Commercial and Traffic Depts. on various jobs since 1922, succeeded Mr. Parker at Northampton.
Elmer F. Ardiff, formerly Acting District Traffic Manager of the Worcester District, became the District Traffic Manager at Springfield in January, 1925, succeeding George A. Morley, who was transferred to Boston as Toll Supervisor.
Linwood L. Ross was promoted from Traffic Manager, Pittsfield District, to Division Toll Supervisor in the Division office at Springfield in January, 1925.
James Murphy was transferred from Boston to the position of Assistant District Traffic Manager at Springfield, succeeding Harold A. Amidon.
Eliza Reid, of River Central Office, and Irene L. Stokes, of
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
Walnut, have been transferred to the Division Traffic office, reporting to the Division Traffic Engineer, in January, 1925.
Generous Old Lady (using telephone for first time-to Op- erator)-As you've been so nice and attentive, my dear, I'm putting an extra nickel in the box for yourself .- Boston Tran- script.
Feb., 1925, Topics-Get-together at Springfield.
Division Superintendents B. T. Miller, C. W. Dufresne and R. C. Marden; F. J. Healey, Division Auditor of Receipts; W. A. McCoy, District Plant Chief; J. H. Weinheimer, Dis- trict Commercial Manager, and J. F. Shaw, Manager of the Springfield Exchange, were invited by the employees of the respective departments of Springfield to meet with them to become acquainted with one another, and to extend a hand of good fellowship with greetings for the new year.
A few more changes were announced in Topics of March, 1925:
Philip S. Hesseltine of the General office has been trans- ferred to the Springfield District as Assistant District Traffic Manager, succeeding Thomas F. Williams, transferred to the Engineering Dept. in Boston.
Nelson E. Horton, Assistant District Traffic Mgr. at Spring- field, has been appointed to a position in the Division Traffic Engineering.
Carl W. Proctor, formerly of the Plant, has been made As- sistant to the Division Traffic Engineer.
The first advanced toll course for Chief Operators in the Western Division was started at Springfield, on Jan. 26, 1925. The course was under the direction of L. L. Ross, Division Toll Supervisor; and Ella Lampson, Springfield Toll Instruc- tor, conducted the class.
Alice Mansfield was appointed Chief Operator at Indian Orchard Feb. 1, 1925. Miss Mansfield went to work at Spring- field as an Operator in Sept., 1908. In July, 1910, she was ad- vanced to a Supervisor and later she was promoted to Instruc- tor, Observer and Branch Exchange Supervisor.
Daisy Jarvis was still Chief Operator at Chicopee, having officiated in that capacity 21 years. Another surprise birthday party was tendered her April 1, 1925, in their attractively deco-
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rated quarters, at which a sumptuous steak dinner was served by the operators.
May, 1925, Topics-Plant Changes.
J. W. Forssen, Division Supervisor of Plant Methods, re- cently announced the addition to his staff of three field super- visors. They are C. A. Morey, formerly Wire Chief at Pittsfield, George Wright, formerly Wire Chief at Keene and Luke Dean, formerly Wire Chief at Fitchburg. Mr. Morey will handle outside construction work, Mr. Wright, central office installation, and Mr. Dean, sub-station installation activities.
Aug., 1925, Topics-Springfield Commercial Outing.
Monday, June 29, the Commercial folks of Springfield, in- cluding the Division and District office forces, spent a most enjoyable evening at a "dog roast" held at Chapin Pond, Lud- low.
Swimming and dancing were followed by a picnic lunch; the lunch committee consisted of Mrs. Pepper, chairman; Miss Eleanor Healey and Miss Edna Pierce. They were assisted by Mrs. Blodgett and Miss Eva Flagg. The lunch which they fur- nished could not have been improved upon.
District Manager Weinheimer, Manager Shaw and Mr. Pep- per performed conspicuous service in roasting the hot "dogs" in the pouring rain. Mr. Starr, Miss Underwood and Miss Reed gave an exhibition waltz which was a feature of the evening. Marion Stack and Jane Corcoran were very much in the limelight by winning first prize in the watermelon eating contest. Dave Dunham put on a "Raggerty Bones" act, which was a hummer. Manager Shaw and "Jack" Lucier gave a duet, which, with a little practice, might have put Van and Schenk to shame.
Mr. Dufresne and Mr. Weinheimer favored the party with a few remarks and stories. Miss Healey, Jack Lucier and Bill Ahearn favored the crowd with a trio which was heavily en- cored. Anyone who missed the party will never know how much they missed. Miss Dorothy Underwood served on the Transportation Committee and Mr. Hanford did the scouting for a location.
Frederick A. Holt, former District Traffic Manager at Fitch-
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burg, was transferred to the Division Traffic Engineers office in Sept., 1925.
Oct., 1925, Topics-C. F. Hepburn, recently appointed Western Division Plant Accountant, started with our Com- pany on Oct. 3, 1910, as a Clerk in the old Jamaica Plain Dis- trict. A little later Mr. Hepburn was made Assistant Super- visor of Coding under Frank Hunt. "Hep" then went through various stages of the accounting activities. He was for a time Supervisor of special work, Assistant to the Chief Plant Ac- countant, and Division Plant Accountant in Vermont. When the Vermont office was moved, he was transferred back to the General Accounting office.
Lawrence R. Nickerson was appointed Central Office Re- pairman at Springfield Oct. 12, 1925. "Nick's" telephone ca- reer started in Yarmouth, N. S., in 1917, with the Canadian Bell Telephone Co. Here he acquired a general knowledge of the business by setting poles, running wire, installing tele- phones, collecting bills, etc. After five years he was attracted to Bermuda by the fame of its climate and the persuasions of a friend, who was working for the Bermuda Telephone Co., a subsidiary of the International Telephone Co. The first year passed pleasantly enough in spite of the rather lax workman- ship performed by two natives of the telephone firm. The second year, Nick began to lose his accustomed energy, and fearing it might decline to the status of the two natives, he heeded an invitation to join the Telephone Company at Springfield, where resided his uncle, Ramond O. Nickerson.
It was Sept. 18, 1923, when he started to work in Springfield as an Installer, and soon he became a PBX Installer, and sub- station Repairman.
Nov., 1925, Clyde T. Hubbard was appointed Springfield District Plant Engineer. He had been serving as Northampton District Plant Engineer since January.
Jan., 1926, Topics-Theresa A. Tierney, formerly Chief Operator at the Walnut office, has been appointed District Employment Supervisor in charge of employment and train- ing in Springfield.
The introduction of machine switching in Springfield, in the near future, entails greater responsibilities in the employ-
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ment and training, and Miss Tierney's experience and ability make her well qualified to assume the duties of this position.
Agnes Dowd, Chief Operator at Palmer, was appointed Dis- trict Chief Operator for the Springfield District. Having suc- cessfully filled the positions of Toll Supervisor, Toll Observer, Assistant Chief Operator and Chief Operator, Miss Dowd is well qualified to assume the duties of her new assignment.
Jan., 1926, Topics-Catherine M. McQuade has been ap- pointed Chief Operator of the Walnut office. Prior to this, Miss McQuade was the Evening Chief Operator of the River office. Sixteen years of experience in traffic work, during which time she has held the positions of Operator, Supervisor, Assistant Chief Operator and Evening Chief Operator, have given Miss McQuade a thorough training in all phases of traffic management.
Jan., 1926, Topics-Harold F. West came to the Western Division as Assistant Force Engineer Nov. 15, 1925. He en- tered the employ of the New York Telephone Co. Sept. 19, 1921, as Traffic Supervisor, in charge of force adjustment work for the 18 manual and 4 machine switching offices in the South Brooklyn Division.
Feb., 1926, Topics-On Dec. 14, Ralph L. Sheppard, for- merly Schedule Engineer in the Metropolitan Division, was transferred to the Western Division, where he will be Division Machine Switching Enginer. Mr. Sheppard became a tele- phone man in October, 1904, when he joined the substation installation force at Lowell. August the next year he trans- ferred to Worcester, taking up substation installation and re- pair work and later construction activities. April, 1906, found him in Fitchburg installing the present central office. After a few more assignments, he was delegated to study the panel type machine switching system, and to organize a training pro- gram for maintenance men.
Clerk (taking application for telephone service): "Is there an instrument on the premises?"
Applicant: "We have a piano. Will that make any differ- ence?" Telephone Review.
March, 1926, Topics-Effective March 1, Ralph C. Mar- den, Division Supt. of Plant for several years, was promoted to
Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts 391
General Plant Supervisor in Boston, reporting to Mr. Schultz.
Bartlett T. Miller, after a year and a half as Division Traffic Supt., was called to Boston as General Traffic Supervisor, re- porting to Mr. Darling.
Joe E. Harrell, who has been Toll Traffic Supervisor on Mr. Darling's Staff, has been made Traffic Supt. of the West- ern Division in succession to Mr. Miller. Mr. Harrell entered the Long Lines Dept. of the American Telephone Co. in New York in 1913. He was, at various times, in charge of Traffic operations in 22 cities in the South and Middle West, before coming to New England in 1925.
John H. Dodge was appointed Division Plant Supt., being transferred from Providence where he has been heading Southern Plant. He has been a telephone man since 1899, when he worked for the Northern New York Telephone Co. as a Ground hand, and later as a Lineman at Newburgh. In 1909 he joined the New York Telephone Co. as a Clerk and the next year became a District Wire Chief. After working at different plant positions until 1924, he joined the New Eng- land Co. at Providence as Division Supt. of Plant.
Robert Pruyn becomes the new District Manager of the Springfield-Pittsfield District.
Miss Marguerite Parker, Division Instructor in the West- ern, has been appointed District Chief Operator of the Ver- mont District, having entered the employ of the Company in Holyoke in November, 1911.
Charles A. Weston, who has been Division Commercial As- sistant on the Division Staff at Springfield, was appointed Di- vision Commercial Engineer,-the first appointment made by the New England Co. under this title.
April, 1926, Topics-John H. Weinheimer, formerly Dis- trict Manager of the Springfield District, including Spring- field, Pittsfield and the Northampton Areas, has been pro- moted to the Western Division office, where he becomes Divi- sion Commercial Supervisor.
April, 1926, Topics-Ralph E. Jones has just been ap- pointed Division Supervisor of Sales in the Commercial De- partment with headquarters in the Western Division office at Springfield. He came to the Company in September, 1919.
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
After taking the students' course, he became Traffic Inspector and Assistant to the Force Engineer. In 1922 he was made As- sistant Traffic Manager in the Malden and Dorchester Dis- tricts, District Traffic Manager of the Mystic District and the same in the Pittsfield District.
Mrs. Louisa M. Dunbar has been appointed to the new po- sition of Division Commercial Cashier. The pay-roll and voucher work formerly done in the Springfield, Worcester and Vermont Districts has been transferred to the Division office at Springfield. Mrs. Dunbar was employed Jan. 19, 1920, as Stenographer in the Springfield Manager's office. Oct. 22, 1923, she was made Cashier of the Springfield District and her work in that position merits the promotion.
Miss S. Elizabeth Bunnell, Stenographer in the Division Commercial office, will be Mrs. Dunbar's assistant.
Apr., 1926, Topics-Banquet in Springfield.
On February 15th the Revenue Accounting folks of Spring- field enjoyed one of the most successful parties ever held by local telephone people. Amid Valentine decorations, a chicken dinner was served at the Highland Hotel, after which everyone adjourned to the ballroom, where a few of the talented ones staged a minstrel show.
While the orchestra was tuning up, Philip N. Dinsmore, Chief Toll Supervisor, gave some attractive gifts to the seven girls selecting the lucky numbers. He also had the pleasure of presenting gifts from the Toll girls to the two Toll Supervisors, Margaret E. Vail and Irene A. Dowling, in celebration of their birthdays. The evening closed with general dancing. A. R. Shepherd, Examiner of Methods, was the guest of the evening.
The party was arranged by the following committees: Hall & Orchestra, N. Darcy, Chairman, K. Davis; Entertainment, D. Blanchette, Chairman, L. Bourke, E. Easton, E. Baker, F. Carter; Refreshments, E. Shea, Chairman, E. Brennan, M. Bourke, M. Leahy; Decorations, E. Gifford, Chairman, G. Davis, D. Crawford, R. Sullivan, C. Griffin, M. Lyons.
H. Leonard Hutchinson was appointed Springfield Head Line Assigner April 12, 1926, succeeding Roland D. Rogers, who was assigned to the post of Records Supervisor. "Hutch" joined the Company at Springfield June 22, 1920, reporting to
CHANGES IN WESTERN DIVISION ORGANIZATION-1927
Left to right: J. E. Harrell, C. W. Baier, R. J. Dec.
FRED ROCKHOLD
MARGARET E. CONNELLY
A DIVISION PUBLIC RELATIONS MEETING-1946
Left to right: Casimer A. Marcou, John L. Crosby, Richard J. Dee, Erskine N. White, Exie E. Geoffrion, Ralph E. Jones.
Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts 393
J. Fred R. Smith, Acting Line Assigner. His pastimes are bowling and tennis, in which he has a special aptitude.
Richard J. Dee was assigned to the position of District Traf- fic Supervisor of the Springfield District in April, 1926.
Harold F. West was appointed Force Engineer succeeding Mr. Dee.
June, 1926, Topics-Irving L. Fisher was transferred to the newly formed Division Commercial Engineering Department in Springfield May 1, 1926. Irving, starting in 1910, in Boston, has spent most of his time in Maine and was Manager of the Bangor Exchange for many years. Early in 1925 he was trans- ferred to the General Commercial Engineers office at Boston, where he worked on rate studies. He will be the Division Rate Engineer, a new position, reporting to C. A. Weston.
A picture in Topics showed Manager Fisher, while in Maine, sitting in a room, holding a skein of wool with out- stretched hands, while an elderly rural customer wound the strands into a ball. This accommodating spirit augurs well for those calling Irving on questions of rate practice.
Effective May 1, Clark M. Wilson was appointed to the new position of Commercial Survey Engineer for the Western Di- vision. He reports directly to C. A. Weston, Division Commer- cial Engineer. Clark, or "Hank" was employed by Robert A. Davis, Assistant Commercial Engineer at Boston, on July 31, 1911, to work on commercial surveys. He will be able to descry the telephone and line growth in any exchange, or section,- after peering into his "Crystal ball."
Eugene E. Cronin was transferred from the Worcester Dis- trict Commercial office to the Western Division in May, 1926, where he will assist Mr. Weinheimer, Division Commercial Supervisor. Mr. Cronin started in September, 1924, as a Stu- dent. He was on Machine Switching instruction work in the Lawrence, Kenmore, Stadium and Aspinwall Exchanges and then was assigned to the General Commercial office in Boston.
On June 7, 1926, Elmer F. Ardiff, who has been District Traffic Manager at Springfield, was transferred to the staff of the General Supervisor of Methods at Boston. He entered the Company in 1920 and has held the positions of Force Engineer and later District Traffic Manager at Worcester.
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
A number of girls entered the Telephone Co. about this time who sufficed to embellish the Springfield Commercial offices:
Gladys M. Payne was engaged as a Stenographer in April, 1926, in the Division office. She was an honor pupil during the entire three years at the High School of Commerce.
Margaret L. Reed also entered the Company as a Stenog- rapher a little before this time.
Alice E. Sheldon was appointed Cashier to take the place of Theresa C. Hillman, who resigned.
Martha H. Maloney presented herself at the business office July 26, 1926, and was appointed a Service Representative.
Ruth E. Larson was appointed Stenographer in the Sales Department, reporting to H. J. Lucier, Division Sales Mana- ger, in place of Florence G. Freyer, who returned to her former work in the Traffic Department.
Charles H. Pillsbury spent about a year in Springfield as District Foreman after the Northampton District was discon- tinued, and was then transferred to Vermont as District Con- struction Foreman.
William F. Langan was transferred to Springfield August 29, 1926, as District Cable Foreman. He started work May 27, 1906, in or near New York City.
John Blair came to Springfield Aug. 29, 1926, about four years before his retirement. He had worked in Worcester since the early 1890s, and was District Store Keeper when trans- ferred. He was assigned to the Division Motor Vehicles and Supplies, and, about 1928, to the inventory of furniture and fixtures, which Walter Pepper was conducting throughout the Division.
Edward J. Tyre was appointed Springfield District Building Supervisor. "Ted" joined the Company in 1917 at Springfield, where he entered the Buildings, Motor Vehicles and Supply Dept. He assisted Walter Pepper with the inventory of furni- ture and fixtures. He went to Worcester and opened up the new Worcester Building, remaining there a year and a half. He also opened the new Pittsfield Building and others.
Etta L. Jones, Chief Clerk in the Division Manager's office, accumulated information describing the advantages, environ-
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
ments and rates in most of the vacation centers in the Western Division.
John H. Weinheimer was transferred to the Metropolitan Division in August, 1926, and was succeeded by Fred F. Mar- ston, Division Commercial Supervisor of the Metropolitan Division.
Fred Marston started as a Student in the Engineering Dept. in Boston in June, 1922. In September he was assigned to the Metropolitan Commercial Dept. and later was Manager at Quincy, followed by his appointment to Metropolitan Com- mercial Supervisor.
Wallace A. McCoy, District Plant Chief at Springfield, was appointed District Plant Supt. of the No. 5 (North West) office, Cambridge.
Cleveland A. Morey was appointed District Construction Supervisor of the Worcester District, having direct charge of the outside work in connection with the new dial central office.
"Tom" W. Hyland was appointed Maintenance Supervisor in the enlarged Worcester District in August.
Sept., 1926, Topics-John H. Dodge was transferred from the position of Division Supt. of Plant at Springfield to the same position in the Metropolitan Division, having general supervision of maintenance, installation and service orders.
The Northampton District, which had been established Jan. 1, 1921, to include the Holyoke, Greenfield and North- ampton Exchange Areas, was discontinued Sept. 1, 1926. The Holyoke and Northampton Areas were returned to the Spring- field District, while the Greenfield Area rejoined the Pitts- field District.
Francis M. Smith was transferred from the Northampton District Engineers to the Division Engineers at Springfield, about Sept. 1, 1926, when the Northampton District was dis- continued. Frank, a native of Easthampton, was first employed Aug. 24, 1924, at Northampton, to help on the outside plant inventory, which was being made throughout the Company in connection with a new schedule of rates, which was to be sub- mitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. This data, according to Frank, was later transferred to forms, made up to cover all types of plant, and constituted the begin-
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
ning of the Division Records Departments, which came under the jurisdiction of the Division Plant Engineers.
Raymond Daboll was the first Records Engineer in the Western Division, previous to which he was Springfield Dis- trict Plant Engineer.
Lawrence B. Shepherd was transferred from Northampton to Springfield as Transmission Tester. "Larry" had joined the Northampton Plant Oct. 6, 1911, and had worked up to Testman.
Mrs. West: "The average woman has a vocabulary of only 500 words."
Grocer: "It's a small stock but think of the turnover."- Topics.
Sept., 1926, Topics-Several important changes in super- visory positions in the Western Division went into effect on Sept. 1st.
Fred Rockhold has been transferred from the position of Supt. of Construction in the Metropolitan Division to succeed John H. Dodge as Division Supt. of Plant, Springfield.
Mr. Rockhold started to work for the New York Telephone Co. as a splicer's helper in the Manhattan Bronx Division, April 27, 1897. He traveled along the path of experience to Splicer and Splicing Foreman, and soon after he was advanced to the position of Construction Supervisor in the Westchester Division.
After becoming Supt. of Construction in the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co., and District Plant Supt. of the West- chester Division, he was appointed Division Supt. of Construc- tion in New York, supervising all construction work from the East side to the West side and from the Battery to the Bronx. He came to the New England Co. in 1925.
John W. Forssen has been appointed District Plant Supt. of the Springfield District, which now includes Northampton, Holyoke, Palmer and Westfield Areas. For some time he has been District Plant Chief at Pittsfield and succeeds Wallis A. McCoy, transferred to the Metropolitan Divison.
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