Evening star., 1928-12-20

latest news to his paper Just before the
| hour OF going to press. On the first
| trial he gained a decided advantage
over the other evening journals by get
| ting some very important news to his
| paper. Thereafter, during the session,
this custom was a daily occurrence"
Mr.. MaynardS first attempt to In
terest people in the establishment of
! telephone lines as means OF COM
munication between various offices in
the city was with the United States
Government. The records of the COM
pany show that "by July /, 1878, he
had installed more than 1l9 electric
speaking telephones" between various
governmental offices.
Business men in Washington, who at
first had taken little interest in the new
means of communication, realized its
value and soon began to install tele-
phones between their offices and ware
houses and stables.
List of Subscribers Given.
With the increase in the number of
private telephone lines there came
demand for intercommunication such as
was then in use in few other cities.
On October 1, 1878, a group of citizens
signed a petition sponsored by Mr.. May
nard whereby they agreed to become
subscribers to the Washington Tele-
phone Exchange for one year from the
date of its organization. The subScrlp-
ton price was not to exceed $4 per
month.
The names affixed to the list were
r. BereSford, 523 Seventh street; Wash.
Nailor. 1926 E street; w. w. Johnston,
M. D., 1907 F street; T. E. Childiste-,
PHI. D. Ninth and H streets; A. M. Glib
son, 1912 Corcoran street; N. V. Jet-
fries, Mcpherson square; r. G. and E.
L. Ingersoll, 1417 G street; Middleton
& Co, 1927 F street northeast; James
g. Saville, 342 d street. and Curtis,
Earle & Burdette. TOO Ninth street.
This was the beginning of the first
central Office system in Washington
and in the early part of December,
1873. a 24-Wire peg switch was in
stalled in a room on the first floor OF
1923 G street northwest, with six lines
connected to it. Burnet L. NeviuS, now
residing at 204 East Underwood street,
Chevy Chase, Md, operated the switch
board. He started working as mes
senger in Mr.. Maynard's office Sep
tember 7. 1877, and later became chief
operator and still later superintendent
of operators. Mr.. Nevius resigned from
the company in 1908 to go into busi-
ness for himself.
Mr.. Nevius was the only telephone
operator in Washington at the time
and continued to serve in this capacity
until the switchboard was moved to
what Mr.. Maynard termed "the perma-
nent central Office" which was estab-
lished in January, 1879, in a room on
the fifth floor of the old Evans Build
ing at 1920 New York avenue. This
exchange was installed on permanent
basis and was operated as the Ma
tional Telephone Exchange.
From time to time improvements in
the system were installed, and it is in
tereSting to note from the records that
the first hello girl' made her appear
ance in 1881. Miss Mary Lloyd, now
Mrs. Mary Newhall, was the first woman
operator in Washington.
On December 3, 1879. the exchange
was superseded by the National Capital
Telephone Co., which had as its presi-
ddent Gardiner G. Hubbard, father-in-
law of Alexander Graham Bell.
When the Chesapeake & Potomac
Telephone Co. took over the operation