The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1952-02-07
History of Telephone
Outlined to Rotarians

A history of I've ,ciephonc company
in Garrett county was outlined to
members Of the Oakland Rotary club
last Friday evening. The speaker was
w. Russell Pancake, engineer assis-
tant of the c. and p. Telephone COM
pany, Of Cumberland, and former
manager of the Oakland office.
Mr. Pancake traced the activity of
the first telephone line to the eXpan-
sion made possible by the present c.
and P. company. His remarks follow:
THE first telephone line was built
in 1900 by Mr.. w. A. Smith, Hoyes,
father of w. Cecil Smith, and ran
from Hoyes to Sang Run. At that
time Mr.. Smith was interested in gen
eral stores at these locations.
This is considered remarkable
when one realizes Bell secured his
Patent i'm 1876, the A. T. q T. COM
pany was formed i'm 1884 and Is years
later when the Bell had hardly gotten
out of New Haven, Connecticut, we
find telephone line constructed and
operating so far away from the field
of the then telephone activity.
"Mr. Smith realized the telephones
time saving qualities and its general
good. And from this there emerged the
Garrett County Telephone Company.
The original company was composed
of Mr.. Smith, NJ. Mattingly, Of Hoyes;
Joseph H. McCrobie, Oakland; {. Y.
Guard, Friendsville; William Miller,
Accident; and j. n. burst, New Ger
many.
This company spread its lines over
all of Garrett County and also to
Allegany County around Homecoming,
eastward into West Virginia, the Elk
Garden and Mt. Storm area, south to-
ward Davis and Thomas and westward
toward Terra Alta and GAINESVILLE.
"Of course, their lines were con-
structed to Oakland and am told the
switch board was located in A. d.
MAYORS Store. One of the budding
young operators of his day was Paul
NaylOr.
THE c. & P. Company started bust
ness in Oakland, july 81, 1906. The
first switch board was a onc-position
magnetic and was located at 5S Second
Street over Harncd's Drug Store.
This board was cut into service with
95 subscribers which were taken over
from the Garrett County Company.
actually installed by us was for DR..
Henry McComas i'm the same building
The Garrett County Telephone
Company continued to operate out
side of Oakland until 1922 at which
time we received from them an add
tional II subscribers.
In 1898 the telephone office was
moved to the X. Of p. Building, 81
Third Street and changed from mag
neto to common battery. The growth
Of telephone service has been steady
through the years: 1910, 141 stations;
1920, PA stations; 1890 344 stations;
1910. 669 stations; January 81. 1852,
1856 stations.
In another section of the county.
in the kitzmiller- Blaine area, tele-
phone service was established early
in the century. The W. Va. company
established a 1-position magnetic Of
flee in Blaine i'm 1906 The first tclc-
phone installed was at the R. A. Smith
Coal and Coke Company and in that
year there were three on the Mary
land side: the Browning house, First
National Bank and Blaine Mercantile
company.
We acquired this property in 1920
and have operated it since I'm 1888
t ,,. e ~ was T oao 5c 10 u.ai
i910 ~ t'ti" o%U 30 - SI' 'i io55
$50 So s+a 9 ,.''''o''S' 'f''''''iS o. i'''
-oo s'''''o''9'
In 1898 tins company constructed
toll circuits and placed dlal equip
ment IN service m the tl1endsvllle
and Accident areas. At Accident: 1910,
So; January 81, 1852, l46. At Friends
vile; 1910, So; January 81, 1852, POP.
IN the sevcnty-fivc year period
since Bell invented the telephone. not
phone expanded to cover practically
all of the nation, but there has been
a steady Improvement in the equip