USA > Massachusetts > Tracing the telephone in western Massachusetts, 1877-1930 > Part 4
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The Springfield fire department had their fire stations connected to one telephone line in September. No one was permitted to use the line but members of the fire department. The ring numbers were No. 1, Central Office; 2, Mt. Tom hose; 3, Reliance; 4, Relief; 5, Emerald; 31, Police Station. One long ring denoted a fire alarm.
In May Charles B. Perkins, alias "Charley," was appointed Manager of the Holyoke office, a promotion which he richly deserved. George F. Perkins, former Manager, was promoted to telephone Superintendent at Springfield. He resigned about 1883 to enter the electrical business in Holyoke.
In June of 1881, Holyoke had reached about 300 subscrib- ers, with five lines to Springfield. About 200 calls a month were being made between Holyoke and Northampton each
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
way. There were three operators in the Holyoke office besides the messenger, and business was so brisk all night that the night boy no longer could enjoy a few winks of sleep between calls. The novelty of the telephone was nearly gone, not many calls being made for the fun of it.
Individual lines were furnished in Holyoke, at this time, to the Whiting, Holyoke, and Massasoit paper companies, H. N. Farr, Nash & Holmes, W. R. Fullerton, M. W. Bartlett, Windsor Hotel, and the city stables.
The formation of the Hampden Telephone Co. is described in Chapter 8, which involves the Springfield and Holyoke ex- changes.
CHAPTER 4
Start of the Pittsfield and North Adams Exchanges
PITTSFIELD EXCHANGE
THE introduction of the telephone to the Berkshires May 12, 1877, was advertised in the Pittsfield Newspapers in a manner well calculated to attract the eye:
CITY HALL SPRINGFIELD AND ACADEMY OF MUSIC PITTSFIELD UNITED BY TELEPHONE!
Saturday Eve'g., May 12th Words and Music Over 50 Miles of Wire Two Audiences Hearing Together
PROGRAMME
1. Opening explanation by Mr. Frederic A. Gower, Manager of the Telephone Exhibition.
2. Cornet and Organ Solos, and vocal solos and duets, through the telephone from Westfield, for both audiences.
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
3. Informal tests and conversation between citizens of Spring- field and Pittsfield.
Admission 35 cents Reserved seats 50 cents Tickets on sale at S. E. Nichol's Book Store on Thursday morning
The papers also played up the coming attraction in a praise- worthy manner. Following are two excerpts from the write ups which appeared in the Pittsfield Sun:
"The lectures are expensive and the prices of admission have been placed very low to give all a chance to see this most wonderful of modern inventions." "All may have a chance on Saturday evening to hear the first telephone ever invented. It will be parallel in interest to witnessing the first trip of Fulton's steamboat or the passage of the first railroad train."
An admirable account of this first performance of the tele- phone in the Berkshires was published in the Pittsfield Sun:
"We do not envy the man who could for the first time listen to music 40 miles away and to conversation between parties 50 miles distant from each other without the most profound feeling, aside from any pleasure derived from what was played or what was said. At Springfield, as the papers of that city re- port, the experiments were as perfectly successful as was, ex- pected by reasonable persons, considering the present stage of the invention, and the large audience-some 1400-received them with constant and hearty applause. The operator was stationed at Westfield and the ten miles of intervening wire were soldered at the joints instead of being merely twisted to- gether as is the 40 miles between Westfield and Pittsfield, so that the results here were less satisfactory although highly in- teresting. The first were a series of tunes upon a reed organ and were performed with the aid of a voltaic battery, such as is commonly used in telegraphing, and was managed by Mr. Robinson of the Western Union Telegraph Co. The tunes were heard with great distinctness and some of the more famil-
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
iar ones were recognized in all parts of the hall. The con- nection with the battery was then broken, and what effects followed were produced solely by the action of the voice im- pinging upon a thin steel plate about the size of a half dollar, and surrounded by coils of insulated wire. These results were not so marked as was expected by either the audience or Mr. Gower, the exhibitor; which he attributed to the "swinging off" of the single wire used in the experiments so as to touch or approach some other wire or a tree; but it was no doubt due in part, at least, from the imperfect joints. Songs, or at least some notes of them, and also of a cornet solo, both per- formed in Westfield, were heard throughout the hall. Mr. Gower also carried on conversation easily with Mr. Watson at Westfield and Prof. Bell in the City Hall at Springfield. Only the hailing sounds "hoy! hoy!" were heard by the audience distinctly. The purport of the conversation was to urge upon Messers. Bell and Watson efforts to make the music more audible here. The responses, however, grew more and more feeble until about half past 9 o'clock, when they ceased alto- gether. We suggest as an explanation that Prof. Bell had become negatively charged; at any rate he refused to be rung, not a tinkle. The audience dispersed, disappointed in some particulars, yet gratified to have been among the first to have heard in Pittsfield sounds produced in Springfield and West- field, and to have witnessed in its infancy what promises to be perhaps the most wonderful invention of the age, and so to be able better to comprehend the accounts of its development. The explanations of Mr. Gower were very clear and enter- taining. About 300 persons were present, not enough to pay expenses."
George H. Cary, the principal of the First Grammar School in Pittsfield, was the sponsor of the exhibition both here and in Springfield. The good attendance at Springfield failed to make up financially for the small audience in the Berkshires.
The Springfield Daily Republican of June 22, 1877, re- ported that George H. Cary, the First Grammar School teacher, has hired a large house in Nantucket, which is his
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
home, and will make it the stopping place of Pittsfield visitors to the island this summer. It is hoped that the results of his first telephone venture did not oblige him to take summer boarders to repair his losses.
Mr. Cary's interest in the telephone was not dimmed, how- ever, for it wasn't long before he became the Bell telephone agent for Berkshire County. He was assisted in this endeavor by a Mr. Arnold so that he was able to continue as principal of the grammar school.
The sale of Bell telephones for private lines seemed to be flourishing, according to these two items which appeared in the Republican Nov. 4, and Dec. 2, 1878: "George H. Cary, the Bell Telephone agent, is to unite the mill of C. J. Kettridge & Co. in Dalton with the line running from Hinsdale depot to the Plunkett Woolen Co.'s mill, making nearly two miles of wire. There is a good prospect that the line will soon be run as far down as Cranesville."
"George H. Cary who has put up a good many Bell tele- phones in the County the past summer, is confident that next season will see a much greater increase. There is talk of a line from Hinsdale depot to the Ashmere reservoir; D. C. Smith of Dalton is thinking of one from his office near the depot to his mill. Hinsdale already has a line with five stations in suc- cessful operation, with the prospect of its continuance to Cranesville. F. A. Schermerhorn of Lenox has an underground line between his house and stables. Col. Anchmuty talks of private line, and Mr. Cary thinks that next summer's influx of city residents at Lenox will make the demand for them con- siderable, with the probability of their extension to Stock- bridge."
Boltwood's History of Pittsfield says the first commercial installation here was between the Pontoosuc Mill and the Pittsfield National Bank in March, 1878.
The Berkshire County Eagle, of Sept. 4, 1951, has this en- livening excerpt: "William Larkin, North Street Clothier, rather believes his grandfather, Samuel Payne, had the first home phone here, connecting his farm at Taylor Street and South with his livery stable in town on Mckay Street. Mr. Larkin well remembers a story told by his grandmother in this
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
connection. A peddler stopped one morning at the stable to sell strawberries. His grandfather said wait a minute, he'd ask his wife. He cranked up the wall phone, talked into the mouth- piece, hung up and said no.
"The peddler was furious at my grandfather," says Mr. Lar- kin, "because he thought the old gentleman wanted him to be- lieve his wife was inside the box."
A novel scheme of connecting telegraph and telephone in- struments to the same line is described in the Republican of February 14th: "The private telegraph line which half a dozen men have had in operation, for amusement partially, for two years or more, has resulted in the organization of the Dis- trict Telegraph Co. by W. K. Rice and W. G. Morton. Tele- graphic or telephonic connections are to be made between the residences of members and the police headquarters, fire de- partment, and the stores and offices. Six offices have already been opened, five more applications have been received, and the company hope before Spring to have 20 offices. The terms are $3 a year for the use of the wire."
There was some question whether Morse instruments and telephones would work on the same line, but they evidently did, for by May Ist the organization had 26 instruments in use, a few being Bell telephones which were furnished for $16 per year. It was also made known that with additions to their patronage the company would soon organize an exchange.
Mr. Rice was evidently impressed by this new means of com- munication and decided to sell his interests in several drug stores and take over the Bell telephone franchise in Fall River, where a list of 100 subscribers had been obtained by another party who did not have the means to go ahead with the busi- ness. The management of the District Telegraph Co., there- fore, devolved upon Mr. Morton, who acquired his partner's interest in the company.
The prospect of a company starting an exchange, and using Bell instruments, may have hastened the entrance into the field of another interested party. Anyhow, this news was an- nounced in the Eagle of May 8, 1879: "The Western Union Telegraph Co. is organizing through their agent, F. W. Rob- inson, a district telephone system in this town, by which lines
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
from offices, stores, and residences will connect with the main office, and place all subscribers in communication with each other, a very convenient arrangement for calling physicians, police, merchants, livery etc. when they may be needed. About 40 subscribers have already been obtained and the requisite 50 will soon be secured. The Company puts in the machines and wires and charges each subscriber $22 a year. Messrs. Rice and Morton's District Telegraph combination has about 20 offices and so between the two, the wires will be plenty in Pitts- field." An office was being fitted up in the basement of the Berkshire Insurance building with an entrance on West Street.
It didn't take long for Manager Robinson to secure the 50 applications, the list getting quite a boost from the offices in the Insurance building.
The Sun on May 22nd carried this item: "The Western Union District Telegraph has 62 subscribers and 12 miles of wire has been ordered which will be put up as soon as possible after it is received. It will cost about $2500 for machines, wire etc."
It wasn't very often that the appearance of telephone instru- ments was alluded to, but this feature wasn't overlooked by the Berkshire County Eagle: "The new telephones of the Western Union Co. and the Bell Company are beautiful specimens of workmanship and they are reduced to the smallest compass and the handiest possible arrangement for use. An elegant wall bracket will contain the entire machinery."
On July 10, 1879, the Berkshire County Eagle gave its readers a few last minute pointers and appended a list of those who were at that date anticipating being connected with the telephone exchange. There are not many of these early lists extant, and it seems fitting to add these names to the Pittsfield Honor Roll:
"In a few days the telephone exchange will be ready for public use or at least for the use of subscribers. The list of those who may be telephonically communicated with is as follows:
"Pittsfield Coal Gas Co. works and office; Henry W. Taft, residence; Berkshire Life Ins. Co., office; Drs. Paddock and
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Adams, residences; Dr. Bailey's residence; T. Clapp's resi- dence; Willard Bros., Drugstore; Dr. Wentworth's residence; Perkins and Searle, Boston Branch Store; M. Gleason's Market; A. B. Root's residence; Dr. Vermilye's residence; R. W. Adams' residence; J. L. Russell's livery; James Wilson's residence; D. M. Collin's residence; Pittsfield National Bank and Cashier Francis' residence; M. P. Lawton & Son's coal office; J. T. Power's store; C. C. Gamwell's coal office; S. W. Tillotson's livery; J. M. Barker's residence; Burbank Hotel; John Hurd's market; F. Nickerson & Son's Market; Geo. W. Smith & Son's Grocery store; American House; F. W. Hins- dale's residence; Henry Chickering's residence; Robbins & Kellogg's factory; L. L. Atwood's store and residence; S. Payne's livery; B. C. Blodgett's Music school; H. T. Morgan's residence; Pontoosuc Woolen Co.'s office; G. R. Lowden's market; A. Kennedy's residence; Geo. Y. Learned's residence; Academy of Music; S. E. Nichol's book store; W. H. Cooley's store; H. L. Dawes' residence; Mrs. Pollock's residence; E. M.
Wood's residence; J. L. Peck's residence and mill; L. A. Stevens' & Co., store; Express Office; Boston and Albany de- pot; F. G. Robinson's residence; Bel Air Mfg. Co .; E. McA. Learned's residence; F. W. Brandow's dental office; Berkshire Fire Ins. Co.'s office; County Jail; Butler Merrill & Co., lumber yard; Wm. Clarks's Co.'s machine shops; E. D. Jones' resi- dence; Court House; Murphy's livery stable; Springside Sum- mer Boarding House."
The Pittsfield exchange was opened Aug. 4, 1879, accord- ing to both the Eagle and the Republican. The Berkshire County Eagle gives a graphic description in its Aug. 7th edi- tion, it being a weekly paper in those days, of large dimensions and having four pages of fine print:
"Hello there!" A man passing the new room just opened in the basement of the insurance building on West Street heard the words shouted, and supposing he was called, stopped. "Hello!" "What's wanted?" "Hello!" "What station is cal- ling?" "Who is it?" the voice went on and the stranger perhaps thinking the place was a lunatic hospital, went down the steps
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
to investigate. It was only Mr. Benjamin Chickering, in the central office of the "telephone system," attending to the "calls."
"The system went into operation on Monday (Aug. 4th) with 65 stations on 13 circuits, the remotest being at Pontoosuc at the North and Mrs. Pollock's at the East.
"Each "station" office, store or residence having a telephone, is furnished with a list of the subscribers, all of whom are des- ignated by numbers. When a subscriber wishes to speak with another he presses a button on his telephone a number of times corresponding with the number of his office (telephone), and that rings a bell on his circuit in the central office the same number of times. Mr. Chickering puts his telephone in con- nection, asks "what's wanted," calls "hello," or by some word lets the caller know he is ready to receive the message. The caller tells Mr. Chickering who he wishes to talk with, a con- nection is made after summoning the person desired, and the two, though perhaps a mile apart, are united by the wire and chat at their leisure, give orders or transact any business they may have.
"But few private families can afford $22 a year for such a luxury and the number of subscribers will be limited and the profit to merchants and others small until the price is reduced. Manager Robinson says the company makes little or nothing above expenses at present."
The Springfield Daily Republican refers to the central of- fice as being in a convenient and tastefully fitted up room with a telephone and transmitter there for the free use of the pub- lic. Also that the battery room adjoins the central office, and there are 175 cells of battery. Charles Silvernail is mentioned as the night operator, and there was some talk of extending the line to Bakerville.
The new central office was next to the Western Union Tele- graph office so that Mr. Robinson could administer the affairs of both offices without too much locomotion. The number of subscribers had reached 70 by August 26th, and the wires had been extended to both freight offices, depot, telegraph, and ex- press offices. Telephones were also put in the Renfrew Mills,
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
their office at the Bradley Mill, and Smith, Mole & Co.'s store.
A few news items, taken from the Pittsfield Sun, touch on sundry subjects of local interest.
A man in town is sure, since the telephone has come out, that the world will come to an end this year.
Pittsfield has the largest population living under one town government in the United States. Does it sound smarter to be called the largest town in the country or the smallest city?
An official in the Pittsfield fire department has just sacrificed chin whiskers 441/4 inches long, the growth of many years. (It may be that they had reached a point where he was stepping on them going up a ladder.)
Butter is down to 20 and 22 cents per lb. It's a long while since butter has melted down to these figures.
On Nov. 17, 1879, there appeared this rather surprising news in the Republican:
"Principal George H. Cary has bought the Pittsfield tele- phone exchange, established a few months ago by the Western Union Telegraph Co. but it does not affect his connection with the schools, and there will be no change in the central office. Mr. Cary has been the local agent of the Bell Telephone Co. for some time."
What is known of Mr. Cary's earlier life comes from Mr. Charles Clark Coffin, Town Clerk of the town of Nantucket, Mass., incorporated 1671: Cary, George H., son of James S., Mariner, and Margaret Hussey of Nantucket, born May 31, 1847, in Nantucket.
Marriages. July 27, 1869, George Howard Cary, Age 22, School teacher, and Mary Gardner Folger, age 21 at Nantucket.
According to the press, Mr. Cary had been in the school de- partment of Pittsfield seven years, and the Pittsfield Sun at- tested to his pedagogic proficiency: "George H. Cary, prin- cipal of the Pittsfield First Grammar School, attended the Boston examination for grammar school masters early in April (1879) where his examination in 25 studies lasted three days. This morning he received his notice that he had been granted
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
a certificate of qualification by this most thorough educational examining board for teachers in this country."
A change in the location of the central office took place on Feb. 7, 1880, it being moved to the third floor of the Insurance Building and a messenger service established. One of the rea- sons for the change was the need of the company's battery room by the Western Union Co.
Pittsfield's population in 1880 was 13,364. It was a prosper- ous textile town and the county seat of Berkshire County. The Berkshire Life Insurance building was its only skyscraper, towering upwards four stories. The Academy of Music (now the Miller building), a theatre above the average, stood on the East side of North St., south of the railroad. The House of Mercy Hospital and the Athenaeum, which contained the library, the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Association and a room for lectures, concerts and art displays, had been estab- lished only a few years previously. The shores of Pontoosuc Lake were unblemished by cottages; and Onota Lake could boast only the summer homes of Pickering Clark and W. C. Allen.
There was no street railway in 1880, the horse drawn vehi- cles not appearing until July 3, 1886.
Pittsfield, being high in the Berkshires, where the atmos- phere was more refined, naturally partook of a higher order of entertainment, than did its neighbors on the lower reaches of the Connecticut river. Boltwood's History of Pittsfield lists some of the intellectual and cultural interests of 1876:
"Among the popular entertainments, lectures were con- spicuous-amateur theatrical performances seem to have been frequent-lovers of classical music were gratified by numerous concerts; and at the theatre might be seen several of the best actors of the period-public balls and masquerades were much in vogue-in sleighing time, hardly a week passed without an excursion of a large party to Lanesborough, or Cheshire, Lenox or Lee, for a supper and a dance at the village hotel.
"Nor should public amusements of less importance be for- gotten-the itinerant Punch-and-Judy shows at the Park, for
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
example, occasionally accompanied by a melancholy bear; the street auctions on West's corner; the traveling circuses which encamped on the small pasture at the North-east corner of Wendell Avenue and East Housatonic Street; the races and baseball games at the Pleasure Park; the Swiss Bell-ringers and the Bohemian glass-blowers at West's or Burbank's Hall; and the exhibitions, two or three years later, of strange amusing and useless toys called the phonograph and the telephone."
The next telephone event involving Pittsfield was of such magnitude that a special chapter must be devoted to it-Chap- ter 5. Prior to this, however, attention must be given to the fair towns of North Adams and Adams, situated at the foot of Mt. Greylock.
NORTH ADAMS EXCHANGE
Mention of somebody planning a telephone exchange in North Adams was made in the Pittsfield Sun as early as April 9, 1879: "There is talk of a grand telephone company, night and day watchman, a system of fire alarms, and other useful and needful things, all of which will probably end in talk."
The last observation was not very complimentary to the progressive spirit of the "tunnel city," and, as it happened, North Adams got its telephone system working nearly two months before Pittsfield did; but it had only a day "watch- man" to start with.
The telephone interests must have adopted the motto facta non verba (deeds, not words) judging by the ensuing events. Only ten days had passed when this surprising news appeared in the Springfield Republican: "There are already 25 sub- scribers to the telephone circuit at North Adams and it will be begun when 50 have been obtained. The line will include Blackington, Briggsville, Houghtonville, the Union, and the projector is confident that 100 will join as the circuit is begun."
On May 1, 1879, the Adams Transcript, an eminent news- paper published weekly in North Adams, and still using the name it took when North Adams was a part of the town of Adams, reported still greater achievements: "The district telephone company has been organized (April 30) and the
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Tracing the Telephone in Western Massachusetts
central office, in the rear of A. W. Richardson's office, Holden St., will be in charge of George C. Millard. About 30 mem- bers have been obtained, and probably more will join when the advantages of the system become appreciated."
On May 15th, the same paper reported the following news: "The wires for the new telephone company are being put up and the system will be in operation within a few days." It was also reported that a movement was on foot to connect North Adams with the Renfrew, W. C. Plunkett and L. L. Brown Mills by telephone. These important industries were situated in Adams.
The North Adams exchange was opened for business Mon- day, June 9, 1879. The Republican reported the event in these words: "The District Telephone Co. opened their office and formally began business yesterday. There are 33 subscribers to begin with and some of these are using the Blake trans- mitter." (The Bell Company's answer to the Western Union Telegraph Co.'s Edison carbon transmitter.) And on June 23rd the same resourceful paper secured this information: "The District Telephone Co. have 40 subscribers and 6 circuits and a 7th is to be put up soon. The company are to put in the Boston hook call bell, the ones already in use not working very well." This improved call bell was, no doubt, the one Thomas Watson invented in Boston late in 1878.
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