A photograph from the early 20th Century showing an operator working at a console at a telephone exchange. The operator manually connected wires to move a call from one wire to another. The stations were centrally located and were often in hotels where the public had easy access to them.
In April 1908, the Lykens Telephone and Telegraph Company, the main phone company in the Lykens Valley, announced that its connection services would be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Operator stations at specifically noted locations would connect calls to the long distance service provided by the company.
The operator stations at the hotels looked much like those in the two photographs here. Usually, women were employed as operators, whereas men and boys had been employed to send, receive and deliver telegraph messages.
Another photograph from around the same time period is from the Library of Congress, whereas the top photo is from Wikipedia. Both photos have been recently colorized from the originals.
The announcements of the round-the-clock service were made through local newspapers.
From the Elizabethville Echo, April 9, 1908:
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From the Lykens Standard, April 10, 1908:
ALL NIGHT AND SUNDAY SERVICE BY THE LYKENS TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE COMPANY
The Lykens Telegraph and Telephone Company will put into effect Sunday, April 12th, continued service in the Lykens Exchange. Millersburg, Elizabethville and Tower City will be connected to the Lykens Exchange after 10 p. m. weekly, including Sunday service as follows:
Millersburg Stations — Hotel Koppenhaver, Hotel Freck, Commercial Hotel (Liverpool).
Elizabethville Stations — Hotel Snyder, Washington House, National Hotel (Pillow)
Tower City Stations — Tower City House, Central House, Al Evans (Reiner City)
By this arrangement the subscribers and also the public will be able at any time to communicate to any part of the Long Distance connections of the American Union Telephone Company.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.