The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-07-30


mington in 188O-Exchange Now Has
1888 Subscribers.
An interesting, authentic and histori-
cally valuable article on the inception
Of the telephone business in Brattleboro
is contributed to the current issue of
Telephone Topics by Maj Frederick
w. Childs of this town, a pioneer of
the telephone in Vermont 1t is en-
titled Early Telephone Days in Brat
tleboro and is illustrated with four
halftone pictures, one of Major Childs,
the BrattIeboro switchboard of the VIII
liams type, 1878, the old hand sled used
i'm building the first Brattleboro- Will
mington circuit. and the Brattleboro
central office, 1913, showing eight oper-
ators at the switchboard. The story
follows:
/ Ny first attempt to operate tele-
graph company dates from Nav Is,
4 1877, when my nephew, the late Walter
I II. Childs, f. G. Frost and myself
established a private telegraph line
in this village. From this first at
tempt developed stable little com
panv here in Brattleboro of amateur
7 telcgraphers, all Of whom, having learn
/ cd the code, had Instruments in their
offices or homes and were thus able to
i communicate with each other Some
of these operators afterwards became
experts and one or two subsequently,
were employed the Western Union and
/ Commercial companies. August 5. 1878.
as an attraction to the Unitarian fair
here, a Bell telephone in full operation
between the town hall and Brooks
House was exhibited. At this time /
was associated with my nephew, the
late Walter II. Childs, Messrs. Z. G.
Frost and III. r. Lawrence, as agents
of the American Bell. We had signed
"A contract with the company, and our
territory included Vermont. western
/. New Hampshire, Eastern New York
and northern Massachusetts,, being the
territory contiguous to Vermont. The
first telephones set in Vermont, so far
as my memory serves me, were those
furnished by our company Of. w.
Childs & Coz to Mr.. Griffith the coal
and lumber manufacturer at DANNY
VT. Mr.. Griffith established the line
between his office and a station near
the summit of one of the rugged
| mountains in Dandy. where wood was
being cut for charcoal and lumber. The
first telephones installed in this town
were those placed in the homes Of the
late Dr. George +. Gale. the late Wal
ter II. Childs and H. b. Chamberin on
Green street with my office in
Crosby block. The line was one wire,
grounded at the terminals, while the
bells were the old fashioned box, near
! ly yard long, though the telephones
| were much the same as now.
| Out of this little beginning developed
| the Brattlcboro exchange, which we
| successfully conducted here for many
| years though Mr. Frost and Mr.. Law
| renee had early retired from the com
| pany, their places being taken by the
:. late George +. lladiey of Chester, VT.
= and the late George S. Dowley Of Brat
tleboro. While Mcssrs. Hadlcy anC
Dowlcy We're financially interested
the policy and management Of the com
Ipanv were entirely in the hands Of
Walter II. Childs and myself. Later on
:, Mr.. powlcy retired as did Mr.. Hattie,
+ when Arthur w. Childs, brother o
Il Walter, was taken into the firm. On
/ electrician. during these years of op
! Grafton, was the late George Loui
/, Clary.
n The telephone business here in Brat
Il tleboro had a phenomenal growth il
+ these early wears, when YOU rcmembe
= that it was then considered more of
n luxury than a public necessity.
About 1880 we built, with the assis
tanee of Dr. H. d. Holton, what wa
then considered a long trunk line t
Wilmington, VT. twenty miles west O
here Its completion WAS heralded b
the firing of cannon, fireworks an
other iovful demonstrations on the pan
OF the people of Wilmington, who II
- to that time, had known very little c
telephones. From this time on. line
were constructed in various parts of tn
county and into Chesterfield and Hin
dale. y. H.. which at once justife
p and confirmed our expectations as to IL
= ultimate use and Importance of tel
phonc communication.
l.. S. Hayes of Bellows Falls, W;
our agent there, in the early days
these operations and others in differei
% parts of the state acquired telephon'
3 from us. | remember distinctly
personally assisting in the building az
compliment of private line at Woo
stock, VT, connecting the home of OF
of the Billings family with one of tt
stores of the village. ! recall the Sc
sation made when the first word w
spoken over the line in the presence
little company Of townspeoplc invit
a. in to "sec it work. -
~ SO many interesting little inciden
Q in connection with the installation
the earliest telephones come to mi
!. that ] could easily spin this out indie
uiteIy Suffice it to say, however, Q
experience was not altogether pleasi
and occasionally it was necessary
meet and overcome (Which we usua
dido some troublesome problems,
for instance, the emphatic objeetic
of property owners to our CROSSE
ct their buildings or grounds and esp