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BELL ARRIVED IN 1885
Sheila Hurd
[Evening Tribune]
Ma Bell came to town in 1885.
Twenty-seven Wellanders signed up for the new service, which enabled them to make long distance calls to Thorold, Port Colborne, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and even to Buffalo.
During these early days of the telephone, directories only listed names, not numbers. It was not until 1889 that directories also included telephone numbers.
A switchboard was installed in Clayton Page’s Main Street grocery store and Page became the first Bell agent in Welland.
J.S. O’Neill was in charge of the switchboard and Miss Toddy Tucker was the first switchboard operator. Female operators were preferred to males because they were more polite.
The Welland switchboard changed locations with each new agent. After two years in the general store, the switchboard was moved to an insurance office and later to a book and stationary store. The switchboard was opened for calls only as long or the store which housed it was open for business.
A turn of the telephone crank connected the caller to the operator. The speed of the telephone service in Page’s general store depended on how busy Page and his clerks were with customers.
In the early years, the idea of the telephone did not catch on very quickly in Welland because the railway interfered with the telephone connection.
By 1901, 36 Wellanders had telephones. In 1903 a second switchboard was installed and in 1906 24-hour service was introduced. By 1910 the number of subscribers had jumped to 488.
A new bell building opened on Division Street to accommodate the growing company. Dial service was introduced in 1942 and direct distance dialing in 1968.
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