The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-12-06
WYANDOTTE
PHONE SERVICE
50 YEARS OLD

r,arlhunc service in Wyandottc has
? :rhed the venerable age of 60 years.
WyardotIc was one nf the first
MrniGln communities outside of DE
J,Oit to make rusr ri Alexander Ora
lam Il, ll> famous invention when an
,X"iiln.t WAS established here in 1880
WIZ the placing of tiny switchboard
IN The Catalan drug Store Druggist
Canadian wd> the first local telephone
manager The first Telephone was in
>,atlel f"i f. ~ Kirby. then SCperin-
lcIplcnt of The ship yards. according
g." w II BARLEY, manager for the
Michigan Bell Telephone Company
IT was only two years after the in
PRODUCTION of the telephone to Michi-
San at Det!Oit and only four years af-
Ter II had been presented Ia the world.
Mi<-hiGan'S -yeHr-Md state capitol
iIIikiing al Lansing had been dediCiit-
ct in january f the previous year
Jmd much lSUnQI and ceremony The
utmEahlc industry was less than "a
"as declared that man never would
1!y So that first Telephone exchange
mere waS pioneer venture in pion-
"yr time
There WE'RE Only II SubScrib, IL to
fit service al fits and all of them
ncrr business firms there were no
rrSidencc telephones. Most people were
~e,ptiCIl Ibrlt the new tangled con
t.dtIou called the speaking tele-
s.h"nc, and He Id,. tiN4.s OF the 81.
'I"- such ~ aIr known today were
urdrtsJn"d Many W,nt 10 view tllr
"Is.r,tiou eli the little exchange and
'vt- S;lW The lrIrphuHc used. but f,w
we're convinced that II ever would be-
come practical For nineteen years
t;rr the exchange was founded it
iiad no more than Is subscribers
six years after the exchange WAS eS-
,tblIShpd the switchboard was moved
cross Riddle Avenue To the old Wy
indOtte Savings IEink building with Il
Miss Murphy rs manager There the
central Office remained gAltiI 1StD.
when a new and larger SwitchbOa d
WAS Installed over the Catalan drug
~rop. and NJ f. Wakefield became.
manager. being succeeded in 1902 by
J. NJ McInniS. other early manages
iicludtd III. j. Patterson, j w Walk
cr, }. &. Catalan. Jr.. and J. L. Ham
sit. Catalan was nephew Of the first
manager. the druggist
OLtlsteiS recall that the service of
tue early days wIs rather crude. com
pared with modern operation, although
The best then available Wires were
strung at first from most any cOnyem-
cent vantage point such as roofs Of
houses and tall trees. There were fle-
luem Interruptions in service. Custom
trS had to shout into the dnOuthpiete
ca he hea ri AMI the lines sang "a mer-
~ time
Not until the turn Of the present
century did the Telephone begin to lose
Its attraction as il curiosity here and
begin To take on its mOdeI n aspect of
being necessity In 1900, the number
uf subscribers reached II. Four yea rs
iater. the number of telephones i'm the
Wyandutte exchange had increased to
80, and by 1911, had climbed to more
than 4OO WyapdOtte was growing in
,inS. riallS
The first long distance line to Wy
nItdOtte was built in 1882. and connect
I'd the community with Trenton and
on to Detroit and other points. 1t con
sisted of only one circuit
In 1905. WyandOtbe was connected
with Crosse He. via Trenton, when
llaIferIDyereti wires were laid under
Ihe water The wires we've not heavy
enough. however. to sink below the ice
ZuIse. and in summer were swept away
by the strong current They soon gave
WAY tO the mOdeln SllbIDa rine cables
that lie upon the floor Of the river
cha Rnel.
~ steadily did the telephone de-
IWnd grow at WyanCbOtte in the early
l%OO'S that competition was attracted.
The Detroit River Telephone Company
was organized i'll 1909 and competition
lsctween II and the Michigan State
Telephone Company, now the Michigan
Bel Company. was keen until 1913.
when bhe dual service was eliminated
iauch To tllt. relief of subscribers who
had found Ii desirable, hut expensive.
to subscribe To both services. The
Michigan STATE Company purchased
The p,o. ertiS IF the Detroit River
Company. -!
Wyan,fOttF continued Ia grow and
~ did its Use Of the tel, phone Today
there are 4.3JO telephones i'll service
here. gain Of more than 40 since
+ise first Of the year. Any one of those
Telephones can he connected with any
one Of aIp, Oximately 2l.OOOOOO others
in the United states and millions nor
in many foreign lands. Thus have six
decades 0f telephone service brought
u q. World Ia WV-tuClOttP'S 1ftst-