The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-10-27
TELEPHONE TALK
ABOUT RICHMOND


OVVOu UIOUDUU1VUO
tcontinued From First PageJ
l46 other people are employed in the
service making . total Of SIS people
required to carry on the business In
Richmond.
A Little Runnlng Hist0ry.
Another interesting fact may be
noted right here. In the year 1900 the
telephone company had Thousands OF
unsightly poles and wires In the
streets Of this city. The most OF US
well remember how Ninth Street from
Main to Broad WAS burdened ana
densely packed with them. To-day
practically all fthe telephone wires
between Cary and Clay Streets all
the way from Church Hill on the cast
to the Boulevard on the west are un-
foreground. the company having forty.
ave and q half miles Of underground
conduit within the city limits. There
are no poles In the territory named eA.
cept Q few distributors" here ana
there.
The frst ntful efforts at running the
telephone bushes in Richmond. away
back yonder In the eighties. were msoe
in q building next to the western
Union Telegraph once. then on MAIN
Street. near Twelfth. The nsst seaa
exchanxe was on the top floor Of the
building now occupied temporarily by
the First National Bank. at Ninth anu
Main streets. and then known as the
Building. Later the eA-
change was moved to the Ebel buiiu-
ing. also at Ninth and Main streets.
there until the company
h,,ilt the smaller three-story brick anu
granite home on Grace Street:
II was but a little while before the
company had to enlarge again. anu
they ACQUIRED the adjoining land to tne
vest Of the new building and erected
thereon tho magnificent nve-stoIS
structure now in use In connec''o"
with the smaller one. ~ a..
These two buildings cost WIN tne
land they stand upon. about s-V"'ooU'
hut that Is not a patching 10 the U.s.
~ Furnishing and cquipping the wv"
buildings with telephone palaphen
ia have visited within the pas
three wears some OF the large teiephohe
exchanges Of the country ana na'e osen
told by experts Of many others' a"u !
am prepared to say that no Guy 10
size in the whole country mas a pe''
equipped exchange than mas hlon"hvnu
~ NAV be set down as a TACT tha'
a mits Of no two sides. that the South
ern Bell Telephone Company or 10
cali A. by las new name. the Chesa-
neake and Potomac Telephone COM
pany OF Virginia dts one and the same)
lid not spend a million or more dollars
IN Richmond for land and bi;iidinss
and equipment just for the tun OF the
thing
Greater Richmond Made Greater
"Hello..
They built here, and builded weiI
because the business was, and 49,
here. and the telephone business nus
grown with such rapidity as II mas
in the lase twelve years because Rlcn-
mond has grown and Richmond ousi-
ness has enlarged and expanded, oe-
cause the banking business end the
newspaper business. the mercantlle
business and the manufacturing Dust
ness. the real estate business and the
insurance business. the educationai
business and the professional business
and all the other kinds OF business
are here to make use o. the teiepn0he
and to be pushed in the twentieth cen
tury way. Indeed. the growth OF tne
telephone In Richmond Is but an lnoeA
to Richmond's growth and prosperity
In general, and a splendid story OF en-
erey and push and up-to-datsness 1t
tells.
A Ttlephone Census.
The telephone people tell me that
statistics gathered by them in all ol
The cities and towns enable them TO
the population Of city quite
accurately without consulting the
L nited States census tables. They say
Il you will just tell them how many
telephones are In use in a given city
hey can come mighty near to naming.
the population OF that city simply "
that number by thirteen
most carefully gathered statistics haS-
ing shown that the ratio Is one teie-
pnone to thirteen people On the first
day of this month there were exactly
!5,442 telephones connected with the
Richmond exchange and these are IN
use in the city and the immediate su-
burbs, and to-day there are very near
to 10000. Multiply either number by Is
and, according to the figures OF the
telephone people. there are little the
rise Of 200 people in Richmond and
Is immediate suburbs. Either this Is
rue O. Richmond Is more up-to-date
Than most cities and her people more
active in business than the peoples Cd
most cities and, therefore. find more
use Tor the telephone The reader 10
Il liberty to take his Of her choice OF
the two Deductions.
REAL CORN BELT.