A link found by David with a little more info;
http://www.burlingtonhistorical.ca/society/PDF/NL/2014/BHS_NL_2014.pdf
Article as submitted to the Burlington Post by The Burlington Historical Society
By Claire Emery Machan
Abridged from “Pathway to Skyway Revisited-The Story of Burlington”
Telephone service first came to Burlington in 1885. The agent for the Bell Telephone Company was T.A. “Tom” LePatourel and the switchboard was located in the dispensing room at the rear of his drug store on Brant Street near Pine Street. Business subscribers listed in 1886 were Mr. LePatourel and the stores of Baxter and Galloway, W. Kerns and Company and Freeman Brothers. The first residence telephone listed in 1889 was for Dr. F. DeW. Bates’ home on Water Street. Until he built new premises for his drug store farther south, Mr. LePatoutel handled all the telephone calls and business for the company.
Mrs. C. Smith (nee Pansy Anderson) became the first operator in the new store. Mr. LePatourel retained the management in Burlington until 1914. Previous to 1900, telephone service was furnished from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. A petition was received from subscribers requesting 24 hour service. At the time there were 80 subscribers but it was necessary to increase the number to 100 before additional service could be provided. E. J. LePatourel, the brother of the Burlington agent came out from the Hamilton
office and soon signed up the needed twenty additional subscribers.
At the time the rate was $15 a year, including three free calls to Hamilton a day. If the subscriber did not use these calls in one day, he might have five the next day. The first telephone
charges paid by Burlington council were 30 or 40 cents a month. In 1907, a bill of $2.63 for three months for the town hall was approved. The township occasionally garnered some revenue
from electric and telephone companies such as when trees had to be cut down to make way for the poles, the township got the wood to sell or use.
Demands for new phones were increasing by 1921. Change from magneto switchboard to a battery switchboard was made in 1927. That same year Burlington’s one thousandth telephone was installed. In October of 1949 the community’s telephones were converted to the dial system. At that time Marion LePatourel, daughter of the first telephone agent, made the first dialed call. Followed by Mayor Norman R. Craig who dialed the first long distance call.
In 1948, all telephone numbers were changed to four digits. Changes were made as usage increased at which time the use of area code with exchange numbers followed by four digits was needed.
Photo from the Burlington Historical Society
From the left in the distance, by the hydro pole in front of the tree: the hardware store on the NE corner of James and Brant Streets; the Thomas Atkinson building at 361 Brant, with a car in front; Harry Graham's Shoe Store, est. 1907; Stephenson's watchmaker's shop with its awning out; a horse and carriage in front of a Meat Market; Le Patourel Druggists, now 351 Brant, with cables to the second-story telephone exchange, Tom Le Patourel standing in the doorway; the Royal Bank of Canada with its ivy-clad southern wall. Brant Street is unpaved. Notice the horse-headed hitching posts