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Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.

100 Years of Telephone Service

Record #:
23032
Author(s):
Abstract:
Telephone service came to Greenville in 1896 with 40 initial subscribers. The first central office was located in a leased one room schoolhouse on the N/W corner of Fourth and Washington Streets with Miss Julia Foley as the first operator. In 1899, the first desk phone was owned by W. B. Wilson. In 1905, the first pay phone was installed in Coward & Wooten’s Store at a cost of 25 cents a minute. In 1915, a triangular brick Telephone building was built at the intersection of Washington Street and Dickinson Ave. in 1939, the telephone reverted to the local dial system with 2,031 subscribers. In 1956, a telephone building was built on Fifth Street and a new telephone office was built on Hooker Road in 1967. In June 1975, the old triangular brick Telephone building on Dickinson Avenue, long a Greenville landmark, was razed to the ground.