On December 13, 1882, Nicholas Shaul’s store in Barkersville, Town of Providence, Saratoga County was destroyed by fire. While the contents were a total loss, it was noted in the Daily Saratogian that 20-year-old Charlie Steele took time away from fighting the fire to save the store’s telephone.
Today we would scratch our heads if this made the news, but 140 years ago it was vital information as this was the only telephone for miles around this isolated hamlet.
It was only two years after Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone technology in 1876 that the first telephone exchange was established in New Haven, Connecticut. For the next 18 years, all telephones were leased from the corporation established by Bell. With growth and mergers, what was started by Alexander Bell soon became the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, commonly known today as A. T. & T.
By 1881 these leased telephones were ringing in Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa, as well as many other of the larger communities surrounding Saratoga County. Because of the high cost and low-profit potential, the Bell Telephone monopoly ignored the rural areas except for leased phones on lines to individuals or businesses like the Shaul Store mentioned earlier. It would be 20 years before telephone service would reach homes in rural Saratoga County, with people from the Village of Galway leading the way in this effort.
The movement to bring telephones into rural America began in 1893 when patents on the Bell telephone handset expired and low-cost options became available. One of these new providers was Montgomery Ward, who by 1900 was selling hand crank telephones and everything short of telephone poles needed to install and maintain a telephone system.
To facilitate the development of telephone communication, they also began publishing Rural Telephone Lines and How to Build Them. This thirty-page booklet was produced to instruct those with no experience working with electricity or telephone wiring in all aspects of building rural telephone circuits.
All of this was accomplished in the first 15 pages, with the remainder of the pamphlet providing detailed descriptions of the telephone equipment and materials that Montgomery Ward offered for sale.
The Galway Telephone Company
The Galway Telephone Company was incorporated in October of 1903 with a capital of five thousand dollars funded with 500 shares of stock at ten dollars each, all of which were purchased by the six directors and their families:
Charles Frederick Mairs, 245 shares: The son of Thomas and Emma Mairs, Charles grew up in Galway and was well-known in the village. Though his work for the Richfield Springs Railway Company took him away from the village, he had inherited a house on South Street in Galway that he used as his summer home. His wife Elizabeth also purchased 50 shares. Charles Frederick Mairs passed away in New York City in 1904, only a year after the Galway Telephone Company was established.
Harvey R. Crouch, 200 shares: 53-year-old Harvey Crouch owned a dry goods store in the village of Galway that he later sold to his nephews and was renamed Robinson Brothers’ Store.
Herbert Carlton Crouch, 1 share: The 25-year-old son of Harvey and Charlotte Crouch, Herbert trained as an electrician and worked as a lineman in the early years of the telephone company.
Walter Anderson Balch, 1 share: A paper hanger and house painter, 28-year-old Walter lived in the family home on West Street in the village.
Fred J. Saxton, 1 share: Frederic Saxton and his wife Margaret lived on East Street in a home that sat behind the First Associate Presbyterian Church parsonage. Fred, age 52, worked as a day laborer in Galway.
John Elsworth Cavert, 1 share: 58 years old when he became a director for the telephone company, John was a Civil War veteran who served as a private in Company F of the 110th New York Volunteers. On returning from the war he took up farming in Galway.
The first switchboard was in the home of Harvey Crouch with his 22-year-old daughter Edith as the operator. As the switchboard operator, Edith earned one hundred dollars a year. By December 1903 poles were being set, and soon after the New Year telephones had been installed as far out as West Charlton.
The Galway Telephone Company system was a single grounded wire network connected to what was the standard for that time, a hand-crank telephone. While the speech transmission on these early telephones was powered by dry-cell batteries either within the telephone or mounted beside it on the wall, the ringer was run by a hand-cranked
generator.
By varying the amount that the crank was turned the caller would make long and short rings that would ring on every phone connected to the multi-phone, or “party line” they were on. To call a telephone on another line, one ring would be made while holding a button on the side of the telephone that directed the ring only to the switchboard.
Each telephone on the party line was given a unique series of long and short rings announcing that the call was directed to their telephone. Here are some of the earliest people to be connected to the Galway Telephone Company circuits and their rings:
West Galway Circuit:
John Davidson – 5 short
Hecker Store – 2 short
Hecker House – 1 long, 1 short
A & T. M. Gilchrist – 3 short
Rev. A. Wareham – 4 short
H. Mead – 6 short
Jason Bell – 1 long, 2 short
William Welch – 1 long and 3 short
M. McWilliams – 1 long, 4 short
John Schulze – 1 long, 6 short
H. Bunyan – 1 long, 5 short
Central Galway Circuit:
H. R. Cronch – 1 short
Charlton Circuit:
Dr. St. John – 2 short
W. J. Cavert – 3 short
Dr. Sweetman – 4 short
Callaghan Store – 1 long, 1 short
Callaghan House – 1 long, 4 short
Rev. James – 6 short
C. Haynes – 1 long, 5 short
John Young – 1 long, 3 short
J. Glover Store – 1 long, 2 short
Glover house – 7 short
John Bann – 8 short
John Skinner – 9 short
William Murtlow – 5 short
By April 1907, the Galway Telephone Company had grown to 119 phones. With this ever-increasing workload, it became impossible for Edith to continue as the sole operator.
The telephone switchboard was moved to the Hawley McWilliam home on Sacandaga Road, 2 and ½ miles south of the village. With this change, the switchboard was taken over by Hawley’s wife Alberta as the Chief Operator, assisted by their 16-year-old daughter Jean.
According to W. Bronson Taylor in his book Stories and Pictures of Galway, proof of the vital importance of this local telephone service came quickly:
“The first call through the new switchboard was the call for a doctor at the birth of a child. The date is definitely recorded in the Town Clerk’s Office. The child was Helen G. Robinson, born on April 18, 1907. Jean McWilliams took the call. The doctor did arrive and the baby was delivered without incident, with Helen growing up to graduate from Potsdam College and becoming an elementary school teacher, marrying Galway native Charles E. Bogue.”
Bronson Taylor went on to describe how members of the community used this newly acquired connection to not only keep in touch with their neighbors but also share with others what they saw happening around them. He gave as an example when he was returning home during a snowstorm and those he passed reported his progress to his family and even made themselves available when his wagon got stuck in the drifts along the way.
During the Galway Village fire of September 17, 1908, from the moment it was reported at 5 am that morning, the McWilliam women stayed at the switchboard around the clock transferring calls and connecting families and officials. Through their diligence, resources needed to lessen the catastrophe were brought in without delay.
With this need for switchboard operators to connect calls made beyond the party line that a phone was on, they learned many details about the lives and activities of the people and families they served.
Throughout all of the years that the McWilliam women served as operators, they never abused that trust, always keeping the personal details they learned to themselves. Bronson Taylor ended by recalling that “Many a time I heard the saying “God Bless Mrs. Mac.”
James A. Jones of Ballston Spa purchased the Galway Telephone Company in 1927, soon moving to the village and bringing the switchboard to his South Street home. By this time they were serving 200 customers and had over 45 miles of wire strung through Galway and adjoining communities.
Viola Saunders and her younger sister Kay were switchboard operators when the company operated out of the Jones home. Other operators included James’ wife Elizabeth and later Marion Groff.
After taking over the telephone company, James Jones made extensive repairs to the lines and put much effort into assuring that the circuits were in perfect working order.
He also continued to extend the service to new customers, with his daughter Betty recalling that he would visit farmers, pointing out the advantage of having a phone if a cow got sick, never mentioning the same benefit for family members.
New York Telephone purchased the company in 1932 for $10,000, bringing to a close nearly 30 years of telephone service to the local community by men and women of the Galway Telephone Company.
Read more about New York State telephone history.
Illustrations: Illustration of Hand Crank Phone from Rural Telephone Lines and How to Build Them, 1900, Montgomery Ward: Photograph of Kay and Viola Saunders is from Galway 1900-1949.
