First Telephone on the Beach

Dianne

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Nov 30, 2016
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Re: Bastien boat house
1886
"Much damage was done along the Beach. Many trees came down, small boats were smashed and Bastien's boat houses were demolished. Capt. Campbell had quite a struggle to reach his lights without being blown into the canal. The propeller LAKE ONTARIO, which for a time had lain in the canal, moved over to Burlington until 11:00 a.m. on the 15 October, by which time the bridge had been opened by hand and she came into the harbour. The bridge was expected to be out of commission for several days."
http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/documents/brookes/default.asp?ID=Y1886
(but Bastien boat house is mentioned as telephone exchange in 1890 so maybe telephone directories don't mean Beach location?)
 

Dianne

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Nov 30, 2016
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Re: scrapbook phone list- looks like it's narrowed down to 1879-1880...
"in Hamilton by the end of 1878, 40 telephones were in the area. One line of the pole was reserved for commercial subscribers, the other wire for the hamilton and Dundas dispatcher."
*this is from a very interesting .pdf of telephone and rail history I will email you
 

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Dianne

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Re: railway and telephone history
-looks like railway engineer logbooks may contain important telephone history

"The charter and Bell's plans also complemented the conclusion of negotiations to begin the cross-Canada railway. Using exclusive contracts with Canadian Pacific, Bell's westward expansion paralleled that of the railroad. Typically the Telephone Company agreed to furnish to the Railway Company at all points in the Dominion of Canada... connection between the offices and stations of the Railway Company and the exchanges of the Telephone Company, long distance passes free of charge. [In return] the Telephone Company shall have the exclusive right of placing telephone... in the stations, offices and premises of the Railway Company throughout the Dominion of Canada.... [E]ach company... grants to the other company facilities for carrying its wires and lines... [a]nd the Railway Company will not grant similar facilities to any other telephone company. (Canada, 1905b, pp. 183-184)
These agreements excluded competitive telephone companies from railway premises, which were often the centre of commercial activity, and allowed Bell and the railways, who operated an extensive telegraph system, to share one anothers' facilities, at the expense of denying competitors' access to their emerging national information grid.
The development of the telephone system paralleled the development of the railway, thus becoming a symbol of national integration (Babe, 1990). This aspect of telephony not only inhered in its use as a means of communication but also by integrating other aspects of the nation-state, such as the police, military outposts, mines, and nascent business communities.
Bell was criticized for its: ... anti-competitive practices by way of establishing restrictive covenants with public places such as railways"
http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/863/769

"In considering the two types of applications for interconnection, attachment of terminal equipment to the network and access to the local switched networks, the CRTC has been required to apply railway legislation dating back to the turn of the century."
"The nexus between telecommunications and railway legislation goes back to the earliest days of telegraphy and telephony. As telegraph services were typically operated by the railways or, at a minimum, relied on the railways' rights of way, it was logical to treat these services as simply the communications analogue of the freight and passenger transport services offered by the railway carriers. Although the Railway Act, R.S.C. 1970, c. R-2 has been altered in several respects since it was first enacted, the key provisions relating to telecommunications have remained essentially unchanged for nearly eight decades."
"Arguments based solely on the Railway Act will first be considered. Then an alternative basis for the authority to forbear found in the National Transportation Act will also be explored."

"The Railway Act-
320. (12) the jurisdiction and powers of the Commission... extend and apply to all companies as in this section defined, and to all telegraph and telephone systems, lines and business of such companies within the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada."

https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/ottawa...a-law-review/files/22_17ottawalrev4551985.pdf
 

scotto

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From the Souvenir Book of Burlington;

The Bell Telephone came to town in 1886 and according to the old records operated 4 installations at the beginning. The first three phones were installed as follows: No. 1, Kerns & Co.; No. 2, Messrs. Baxter and Galloway; No. 3, Freeman Brothers. These paid $20.00 per annum for the service. The lease to the Grand Trunk Railway waw marked "Free." At the present time the now office built in 1926 provides for 980 phones. At the beginning of 1927 a new up to date Switchboard was installed thereby giving patrons of the phone the most modern service, including direct calls with Hamilton. The office is in charge of Miss Marion Snodgrass, chief operator. Ten operators and two linesmen are on the staff.

Photo from Halton Images
Miss Marion Snodgrass, chief operator
 

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Dianne

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Snodgrass...lol... that is from the Burlington Souvenir book 1927, but interesting as it indicates free telephone for railway, which perhaps was not listed in early pay station lists? I have emailed you a few .pdfs that indicate Capt. Campbell had a pay station at least by 1895. In the earlier correspondence I had with Bell Historical Collection, the Spécialiste - Service des archives stated "Captain Campbell at Hamilton Beach. Capt. Campbell was responsible for a public telephone as of 1899" and with that statement attached a record that showed he had a pay station in 1897. at the time, I saw that date contradiction as a typo of sorts, but now we have one of their records that says 1895, so perhaps incomplete research? there still remains conflicting information that suggests his phone even predates this pay station record of 1895. perhaps his line was listed as residential, rather than on the pay station pages?
 

scotto

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Snodgrass...lol... that is from the Burlington Souvenir book 1927, but interesting as it indicates free telephone for railway, which perhaps was not listed in early pay station lists? I have emailed you a few .pdfs that indicate Capt. Campbell had a pay station at least by 1895. In the earlier correspondence I had with Bell Historical Collection, the Spécialiste - Service des archives stated "Captain Campbell at Hamilton Beach. Capt. Campbell was responsible for a public telephone as of 1899" and with that statement attached a record that showed he had a pay station in 1897. at the time, I saw that date contradiction as a typo of sorts, but now we have one of their records that says 1895, so perhaps incomplete research? there still remains conflicting information that suggests his phone even predates this pay station record of 1895. perhaps his line was listed as residential, rather than on the pay station pages?
Can't seem to find much Capt. Campbell, thought our history Mod Peggy searched his diaries but apparently that was Thompson. Still checking into John Hughes.
 

scotto

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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
 

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David O'Reilly

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I have found an interesting page on the history of the Bell Telephone.

Automatic Switching and the Introduction of Rotary Dial Telephones

Automatic switching technology was introduced in the United States and in Europe in the 1900s. In Canada automatic switching was tested in Terrebonne and out West. After the First World War, the high demand for telephones forced companies to adopt this technology. In the 1920s, technological changes affecting local telephone service transformed the procedures to be followed. With the new automatic exchanges, subscribers used rotary dial phones that sought out the receiving number. From that point on, operators were no longer indispensable for local calls. Newspapers announced: "Subscribers won't need operators."

In the summer of 1924, Bell's first automatic switches were put into service at the Grover exchange in Toronto. The public had to be educated about this new technology because callers had to learn how to dial numbers. Now that we are used to Touch-Tone service, do we still know how to dial?
Quoi:
Automatic switching and rotary dial telephones were one of the major technological advances of the 20th century.
Où:
Bell Canada introduced automatic telephone service in Toronto in 1924 and in Montreal the next year.

http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/printtour.php?tourID=VQ_P4_2_EN&Lang=2



so this means that the beach was serviced by a telephone operator and a switchboard until at least 1924. It would be interesting to know exactly when the beach got dial phones, and whether there was a switchboard located on the beach.
 

scotto

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Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. (9 December 1846 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada – 18 March 1931) Businessman, telephone pioneer.[1]

On June 20, 1877, Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. started up the first commercial telephone service in Canada in the city of Hamilton, Ontario.[2] Then in 1878, he made the first telephone exchange in the British Empire. This was also the second telephone exchange in all of North America.[2] The following season on 15 May 1879 he made Hamilton the site of the first commercial long distance telephone line in the British Empire.[2] In 1880, (April 29) Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. received a charter to build a national telephone company in Hamilton, Ontario. It was called the Hamilton Telephone Company and this was the charter that enabled the creation of the Bell Telephone Company in Canada. Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. became the manager of the Ontario division until he retired in 1909.[3] The first telephone had been leased to Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie in September 1877.[1] Baker learned of Alexander Graham Bell's invention in 1877 at the Philadelphia International Exposition and from there decided to test the communication tool in Hamilton.[3] He leased four telephones for himself and his chess partners and on August 29, 1877, the telephone replaced the telegraph as the means to discuss their chess moves.[3] Baker is also credited with helping to create the Hamilton Street Railway Company, the Hamilton Real Estate Association and the Canada Fire and Marine Insurance Company - all before he was 30-years old.[3]

His father, Hugh Cossart Baker, Sr. established the first life insurance company in Canada on 21 August 1847; the Canada Life Assurance Company.[1][2]

_____________________________________________________________________________

Attached is a photo of a plaque located near Main St. and James St in Hamilton.
Hugh Cossart Baker.jpg
 
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