Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
TELEPHONE SERVICE
TELEPHONE SERVICE. Edward T. KEIM brought telephone service to Dubuque as a result of his experience at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. (1) At the Exposition, Keim was given the opportunity of transmitting sounds over a telephone line and discussing the potential of the machine with its inventor, Alexander Graham Bell.
Keim returned to Dubuque but waited until 1878 to write to Theodore Vail, general manager of the National Bell Telephone Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Keim was told that to establish a telephone system in Dubuque, George Engle of Cedar Rapids would have to be contacted. Engle was National Bell's exclusive agent for a large part of Iowa. (2)
Keim was joined in organizing the Dubuque telephone service by D. H. Ogden, a member of the Engle company. The firm of Keim and Ogden was renamed the Dubuque Telephone Exchange Company in May 1879. (3) Cedar Rapids promoters had not been successful in obtaining subscribers, so the Dubuque exchange became the first one built in the United States west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (4) Shortly after the opening of the exchange, Keim and Ogden were faced with competition from the Western Union Telegraph Company which organized another telephone company. These two companies consolidated under the name of the Western Telephone Company. This became the Central Union Telephone Company and finally the IOWA TELEPHONE COMPANY, the predecessor of NORTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY. (5)
On May 20, 1879, construction of the Dubuque Telephone Exchange began. (6) The company's main office was located on Main Street between Fifth and Sixth STREETS at the rear of the insurance office of SMITH AND PLAISTER. (7) Plans for the switchboard, plugs, and transmitters were furnished by an electrical firm in Boston. The switchboard made of black walnut was manufactured by the DUBUQUE CABINET MAKERS' ASSOCIATION; the brass work was produced by JOHN HARTIG of Dubuque. (8)
The Dubuque Telephone Exchange originally served twelve customers. (9) Within a month, there were thirty telephones in service and by the end of the year the telephone system had grown to two hundred-fifty telephones. (10) The first operator for the local exchange was Sam C. Peaslee. Interested in communication between Dubuque and East Dubuque, Peaslee on June 13, 1879 had a line run from the top of the SHOT TOWER to the bluff on the east side of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (11) The first conversation was carried the following day. The same year another first was accomplished when the first telephone was installed in the offices of the Dubuque Herald. (12) The second office phone was installed in CARR, RYDER, AND WHEELER COMPANY. The first phone on the hill went into the residence of William A. HARKETT. (13) The quickly spreading telephone business in 1879 led to telephones installed in the DUBUQUE LUMBER COMPANY and the office of the DIAMOND JO BOATYARD office at EAGLE POINT. (14) Phones were warranted at the time to operate at a distance of one mile and to be unaffected by the weather. (15)
The growth of telephone service in Dubuque pitted two companies against each other. Bell Telephone was the first to establish itself. Their competition was the telephone of Gray-Edison. (16) On June 25, 1879 Bell Telephone offered listeners a concert of the East Dubuque band to show the superiority of its equipment. (17) Repeated references to Bell telephones being installed in businesses and governmental offices could be found in the Dubuque Herald during the summer of 1879 without a single mention of Gray-Edison. Increased telephone usage led to a request by the Dubuque Herald in July 1879 for more police on the night shift to respond to reports of criminal behavior. (18)
The Dubuque Telephone Exchange announced on November 7, 1879 that patrons could use any "instrument they preferred." (19) The consolidation of the two systems was completed by February 6, 1880. (20) The universal switch board, arranged to answer magnet and battery calls, was handled by two operators who managed the two hundred subscribers. (21)
On April 1, 1880 the first suggestions were made that it was time to link Dubuque with Sageville. (22) At the end of the month, the telephone company carried communication between Dubuque and Rockford, Illinois. This was accomplished with the cooperation of the Western Union Telegraph Company which allowed the phone company to use its lines. (23)
In 1880 there were 217 telephones operating in Dubuque. This required three "attendants" at the switch board to handle the daily average of 2,000 calls. (24) In October 1880 it was announced that the phone company was putting in new instruments and replacing the Edison equipment with Bell. (25)
It was inevitable that humor would finally be directed toward the telephone company. The Dubuque Herald carried the following story in its October 17, 1880 edition:
A telephone operator, when asked to say grace at a
dinner table bowed his head and, in a fit of forget-
fulness, was heard to utter," Hello, Hello." Force
of habit.
Dubuque, Cascade, Monticello and Davenport were linked in 1883 and by March 1884 one hundred communities were linked to Dubuque by telephone. (26)
In 1895 the HARRIMAN INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE COMPANY made a serious bid for local business.
In 1896 the Dubuque Telephone Exchange was purchased by the Iowa Telephone Company which had also absorbed the Central Union Company. Iowa Telephone, with offices in Burlington, announced that it would have electrical wires attached to their poles removed. (27)
In was not until December 1, 1897 that the first call between Dubuque and Chicago occurred. Three months later the first calls to New York and Washington, D.C. were made. (28)
The Iowa Telephone Company presented itself to the city council in February, 1895. Its petition to supply service was strongly contested by E. T. Keim who wished to establish a company funded locally. (29)
On July 3, 1897 the Interstate Telephone and Electric Company was granted a charter for the construction of the Dubuque Telephone Company. The new company operated in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin with cities linked by toll lines and "long distance instruments." (30)
Continued acceptance of the telephone led by 1906 to the construction of a new building for the Iowa Telephone Company at 824 Locust Street. (31) During the summer of 1910 an estimated $6,000 in labor alone was spent by the company on improvements to the telephone service. (32) A new section for the switchboard was installed accommodating three thousand additional phones. A new "Phantom Circuit" was also to be used by which two wires could carry three separate conversations. (33)
In 1927 the 'dumb bell' phone, popular in the eastern United States, had yet to be seen in Dubuque. It was also unlikely, according to NORTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY officials, to be seen in the near future because of the limited supply and demand in the city. The phone received its name from the "shape of the piece in which the receiving and transmitting apparatus are combined." The spread of the use of the phone "has been something of a fad and their use has been greatly increased because of the movies in which they are frequently seen." The 'dumb bell' was more expensive to install and the monthly service charge was higher.
Their only advantage is that, because of their design,
they keep the person using the phone from speaking with
the mouth at a distance from the mouthpiece which makes
the voice unintelligible to the party at the other end
of the line." (34)
In 1934 there were just over 9,000 telephones in Dubuque. It took seven years to add another 3,000 with the gain during WORLD WAR II being especially slow. (35) By 1945 all available space was occupied in the present building. This building was vacated by the telephone company in 1951 and was used by LANDON'S, a Dubuque furrier, as a storage space until 1959. The telephone company's business office moved to 221 West 9th in the BANK AND INSURANCE BUILDING. (36)
In 1941 the DUBUQUE CUSTOM HOUSE AND POST OFFICE building at 9th and Locust was purchased by Northwestern Bell and demolished. In 1948 a modern building was constructed (900 Locust Street) and dedicated on October 28th. (37) Additional lines and cables were laid and the switchboard went from 55 to 70 operators. Dial equipment was not yet available. The facility was rated as the "most modern" in Iowa when it opened on November 21, 1949. In 1951 Northwestern Bell vacated its old location at 824 Locust. In 1959 Louis PFOHL purchased the building for $53,000 and developed the site into the Fischer Arcade Building.
In 1953 the first 24-hour public telephone was installed at the Ninth Street parking lot. (38)
A new long distance telephone cable project was announced in 1955. Plans called for approximately 160 miles of storm-proof long distance cable to serve the northeastern part of Iowa. The cable would stretch from Dubuque to Waterloo with a 70-mile branch reaching northward from Independence to Decorah. (39) The new cable added 225 circuits equaling 13,600 miles to the facilities serving the area. Except in cities where the cable would be buried in underground conduit, the cable was fastened to poles. (40)
Around 1988 US West took over Northwestern Bell. Qwest became the telephone company in June 2000. Increased Internet and cellphone use led to a division of the old 319 area code on March 25, 2001. Dubuque became part of the 563 designation. Century Link took over Qwest on April 1, 2011.
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Source:
1. "Cornerstone to be Laid for Phone Building," Telegraph Herald, October 24, 1948, p. 17, Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LuFhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4nQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6401,4118869&dq=peaslee+and+company+dubuque&hl=en
2. "Dubuque--Telephone History," October 28, 1948, Adult Vertical File, Carnegie-Stout Public Library.
3. Ibid.
4. "First Phones Entertained," Telegraph Herald, May 2, 1946, p. 16. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1kdjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SXUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3380,4153142&dq=peaslee+and+company+dubuque&hl=en
5. "Growing With Dubuque..."
6. "Cornerstone..."
7. "Growing with Dubuque," (Pamphlet) Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, October 28, 1948.
8. Ibid.
9. "First Phones Entertained..."
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. "First Office Phone Here Installed by Dubuque Herald," Dubuque Herald, March 2, 1924, p. 1
13. Ibid.
14. "Telephones," Dubuque Herald, February 18, 1879
15. Ibid.
16. "The Telephone Contest," Dubuque Herald, June 24, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790624&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
17. "A Telephone Serenade," Dubuque Herald, June 25, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790625&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
18. "First Phones Entertained..."
19. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, November 7, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18791107&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
20. "Telephone Items," Dubuque Herald, February 6, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18800206&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
21. Ibid.
22. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, April 1, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18800401&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
23. "Dubuque and Rockford," Dubuque Herald, April 27, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18800427&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
24. "Telephone," Dubuque Herald, October 6, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18801006&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
25. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, October 16, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18801016&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
26. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, July 9, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18790709&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
27. "Caught on the Fly," Dubuque Herald, September 8, 1896, p. 5 Online: http://p8080-10.30.40.140.ezproxy.dubuque.lib.ia.us/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=76d75574-3467-4ecf-9df4-c2b7da149f1e/ResCarta/00000003/00000143
28. Ibid.
29. "So All Can Talk," Dubuque Herald, February 17, 1897, p. 8
30. "Sustains Stewart," Dubuque Herald, July 4, 1897, p. 8
31. Meyer, Jeffrey. "Hello Operator, Dubuque Please," Telegraph Herald, June 12, 2012, p. 1c
32. "District Offices Tel. Co. Come Here," Dubuque Herald, July 21, 1910, p. 10
33. Ibid.
34. " 'Dumb Bell' Phone Has Advantages," Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal, May 15, 1927, p. 14
35. "District Offices Tel. Co. Come Here,"
36. Ibid.
37. "Corner Stone to be Laid ..."
38. Day, Mike (editor), The '50s: Vol. 1: 1950-1954, Dubuque: Woodward Communications, 2015, p. 8
39. "New Long Distance Telephone Cable Project to Start Here," Telegraph Herald, August 4, 1955, p. 26
40. Ibid.
