Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1941-02-28
COMMERCIAL
PHONE SERVICE
TO Smith isle.
Was Officially Opened For Use
Last Weekend. Same Ar
rangement For Tangier
MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA
GOVERNORS OPEN SERVICE

GOVENNOfSS VI Elm DEN AOG
Commercial telephone service to
Smiths Island, Maryland and Tangier
Island, Virginia was officially opened
for use last weekend when Governor
Herbert R. O'Conor of Maryland and
Governor James H. Price, of Virgin
ia extended greetings to the islanders
over the new radiotelephone system.
The many months of work required
to develop and install the necessary
equipment was climaxed by meeting
on Smiths Island, Friday night, (Feb-
ruary 14), followed by similar
ceremony on Tangier, Saturday even
ing February 15). Mrs. w. H. Kohl
wife of Smiths Islands minister, in
augurated that islands new system
by calling Governor O'Conor at the
executive mansion in Annapolis. At
Tangier, Rev. j. H. Billingsley ex-
changed greetings with Governor
Price in Richmond.
Capacity crowds, gathered in COM
munity halls, heard their respective
state executive congratulate them on
the introduction of telephone service.
The conversations between Mrs. Kohl
and Governor O'Conor and Rev. Bill
Kingsley and Governor Price were
,amplified over loudspeakers to the
assembled islanders.
! Prior to the official calls, R. F.
DeButts, District Manager for the
Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
Company of Baltimore City at Sails
bury, Md, delivered talk at both
meetings in which he discussed the
development and construction of the
system and explained various fea-
lures of it's operation. Motion pic
lures, showing activities of the Bell
Telephone Laboratories, the great
scientific and experimental branch of
the Bell System which devised the
equipment, and shots of the part play
ed by the telephone industry in main
tanning and restoring service during
the New England hurricane in 1888,
constituted a portion of the enter
tainment on each of the islands.
The unusual telephone system, the
first of it's kind in the country, is the
result of considerable planning and
study by the Chesapeake and Poto-
mac Telephone Companies of Virgin
ia and Maryland. Previous to its
installation, the islands had been pro-
vided with restricted communications
through the use of emergency radio
telephone equipment set up in the
latter part of 1899. Transmission of
messages over this equipment was
necessarily confined to emergency
calls but these were so frequent that
they emphasized the urgent need of
the islanders for a more extensive
telephone service. Separated from
the mainland by some 10 or IL miles
of water, the Smithsmen and Tan
giermen have frequently been cut off
from the mainland and as a result
have suffered hardship due to lack of
medical supplies and food.
It is expected that the new tele-
phone system will provide a suitable
weapon for the 1920 islanders in
their long battle against old man win
ter and the icechoked Chesapeake
Bay. With dependable telephone SER
vice, they will be able to bridge the
watery barricade which separates
them from the outside world.
In September 1910, the G. and P
Companies applied to the Federal
Communications Commission for per
mission to construct radio trans
hitting station on Smiths and Tan.
gier Islands, to provide telephone CON
munication between these points anG
the mainland. In October 1910, the
F. C. C. granted this permission anc
construction Of the present system
was begun.
Although featuring several new
developments in telephone science
the system is similar to that which
provides radiotelephone service t.
ships at sea. Equipment, including
radio antenna poles and transmitting
and receiving apparatus, is installed
at Tangier and Smiths and on thu
Bay shore one mile south of Crisfield
Md. Additional equipment is in tn,
Crisfield central office, which acts a.
a control center for all calls to ant
from the islands. An interesting fea
turo of the new system is IFS al1to