The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1906-04-12
New Telephone Building Soon to
be Open Will Provide Every
Comfort for Hello Girls
TO EMPLOY 80 OPERATORS
Work of Setting up big Switch Board
now we'll Under way and it is Ex-
pected That the new Building
Will Open About May 20

The "hel1o girl" in Kenosha has
come to her own at last and when the
new building of the Kenosha Home
Telephone company is opened the
latter part Of May the operators of
the Kenosha exchange will have the
finest quarters Of any set of operators
in the state. The old Petit home
stead at the corner of Market and
Ashland avenue is now converted into
a modern home for telephone com
pany and the workmen are working
over time setting up the big switch
board and getting things in readiness
for the opening of the new exchange.
The work has been in a measure de-
1ayed by the fact that the companies
manufacturing the apparatus have
been so busy that they could not get
out the big board for the Kenosha
company on scheduled time but the
material is now all on the ground and
the work of setting it up is being car
ried forward as rapidly as possible.
Every part of the exchange will be
modern, but the portion that is set
aside for the young women who tend
the big switchboard is especially fit
ting. The room in which the switch
board is being set up is a great airy
room forty by thirty feet in dimen-
sions. 1t has been constructed with
a view of perfect ventilation. On one
side of this large room is toilet room
for the use Of the women operators,
while on the north west side of the
operating room is big room almost
as large as the main room. This is
to be used for a rest and retiring room
for the young women employed. It
is being decorated in soft tints and it
will be furnished with rest chairs and
comfortable lounges. In one Of the
little a1coves it is the plan of the COM
pany to install a library, while the.
latest periodicals will be kept on file
for the use of the young women.
The big switch board will demand
the services of two shifts of eleven
girls, while two and possibly three
girls will be needed to operate the
toll board and two more womer will
be needed for the desk operator. No
men will be permitted to have any
part IN this arrangement. The girls
will have rest hour Of half an hour
in the morning and an equal time in
the afternoon,
It is said that the Kenosha switch
board will be the second largest in the
state. 1t is manufactured by the
Western Electric company according
to the latest pattern and has capacity
of 5000 phones. This is more than
three times the numb Der now in use in,
the city. Added to the twenty-four
foot board there will be two other
switch boards. One will be given
over entirely to the toll business,
while the third is for the use of the
head operator and her aids. In the
rooms on the first floor of the building
a special switch board has been To-
Gated for the use of the ma nagers of
the company The contractors claim
that Kenosha will have perfect
telephone building. The first floor
will be given over to the offices of the
manager, the contract men and the
collectors, while on the extreme west
there will be one room set aside for
the use of the directors of the com
pany as meeting room. All of the
dynamos and heavy machinery con-
nected with the exchange will be To-
Gated in the basement of the building.
The cables for the exchange have
all been put IN and it is expected that
the connections with the different
switch boards will be made about the
first of May. Every piece Of ma
chinery will be in motion before the
building is open for the inspection of
the telephone users of the city.