John Watson: Early day telephone service in Cleburne

While looking through one of the Johnson County history books at the Cleburne Public Library that were put together by Mildred Pace, a newspaper clipping headline caught my attention.

The headline read: “Telephone Exchange Opened in Cleburne Short Time After ‘Gadget’ was Invented.”

“Just six years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the new fangled talking instrument called the “telephone,” the first exchange was opened in Cleburne.

“Records of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company show that 42 Cleburne citizens were enjoying the use of the new gadget as early as August 31, 1883.

“But that early exchange appears to have had rough sailing from the start, and the local telephone system underwent a series of transfigurations during the next few years. The original exchange was abandoned only a short time after it was opened because the need for it was not as great as had been expected.

“Earliest operations data for a telephone exchange here indicate that a franchise was granted to J.A. Caldwell in 1896. A year later, this company, boasting 106 telephones, was purchased by Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company. The exchange was located at Henderson and Main Streets.

“In the early 1900’s, Cleburne had competing telephone systems when the Cleburne Automatic [dial] Telephone Company began operation. Some records say 1903, others say 1904 or 1905. This exchange was credited with being the first automatic telephone system in Texas. But the Automatic Company allowed its plant to become so deteriorated and its service was so unsatisfactory that its franchise was revoked in 1912.

“An article in the Fort Worth Record News in August of 1912 states that the company ceased operation in July of that year on account of a fire that destroyed much of the company’s equipment. The plant and franchise was purchased by a Kansas City concern, and the equipment was transferred to Missouri.

“In September, 1906, the city got a brand new telephone system. A story in the Cleburne Morning Review in May 1906 announced that ‘The New Switchboard for The Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Has Arrived.’ The article made much of the new battery system which replaced the old magneto or ‘crank’ telephones in use up to that time. Citizens later were invited to view the company’s new quarters, then located at Wardville and Caddo Streets.”

This is the same building where Patrick’s Cleburne Floral is now located. According to John Patrick, the present owner, work started on the building in 1904, when the first story was built. Work began once more in 1905, when the second story was added. The telephone company then moved into the building in 1906.

The switchboard and operators were located upstairs. There was an outside covered stairway on the north side of the building that the operators used. This stairway fell in the early 1970s and was never replaced. You can still see a light streak on the side of the building where the stair case was attached. There was never an inside stairway going to the second floor.

Southwestern Bell built a large new building in North Robinson Street in 1952 and installed automated switching equipment there. At midnight, Feb. 28, 1953, the Cleburne system switched to the dial system. That marked the end of the operator assisted phone calls. After 47 years the telephone operators no longer had to climb those stairs to go to work.

In November 1953, Mr. Jordan, a junior high science teacher, took the science club members on a field trip to see the how the new dial system worked. We went into the main switching room, where there were several rows of circuit boards. Each time someone dialed a number you could hear a click as each circuit made contact to complete the call. There was a constant clicking sound coming from all around you.

In the 1950s all dial telephone exchanges were named. The first two letters of the name were the first two digits of your telephone number. The name for the Cleburne exchange was Milton. There were two ways you could list your telephone number; one was MIlton 5-4989, or shorten it to MI5-4989. When the area code went into service in the 1960s, the MI was dropped, and we went to all numerals.

Another newspaper clipping, dated August 1961, headlined: “Allie Jarvis Observes 44 Years Service Here.”

“Miss Allie Jarvis, hired as a temporary employee by Cleburne telephone company manager J. A. Williams, in 1917, finished 44 consecutive years as an employee of the Cleburne Bell Telephone Co. yesterday.

“Miss. Jarvis said she has never been informed she was on a permanent status. She was 20 when she took the job in the business office of the company. The first woman to ever work for the telephone company, other than operators. Miss Jarvis was hired because the draft during World War I was taking all of the eligible men. Fred Marshall and Ned Hoffman, who worked in the business office when Miss Jarvis was hired, were soon drafted. Miss Jarvis had to do the work of two men before additional women could be hired. The office has been all female ever since.

“Miss Jarvis took a leave of absence from the Cleburne office in September, 1943, and served 22 months as a WAC. She was assigned to the Signal Corps and did office work until her discharge in November, 1945.

“Miss Jarvis went in as a private and was a second lieutenant when discharged. She returned to Cleburne and the telephone company.

“Miss Jarvis graduated from Cleburne High School in 1914 and attended the Cullen School of Business here. She studied shorthand and typing. She was president of the Cleburne Business & Professional Women’s Club in 1930 and again in 1960. She was elected to serve on the City Charter Commission in 1950.”

This is just a little background of our local telephone service and one of the early day employees. We have had telephone service for just a little more than 100 years. Now, try to imagine what life would be like without phones.



John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.