Pictured above is Miss Dora Peeling (Mrs Charles Midlan) who was the operator at The Brookville Telephone Co.
Submitted photo
BROOKVILLE — The Brookville Telephone Company started in October 1901 with 60 subscribers. The first Brookville Telephone Directory was printed in 1904.
The Brookville Historical Society has a copy of this phone book at the Historical Society’s Exhibit Building at 3 Hay Avenue. It was printed by the Brookville Star.
In 1904 the Brookville Exchange was located in the Bank Building (132 Market St.). The officers and directors were J.C. Snider, president; N.W. Rinehart, vice president; O.E. Baker, secretary; H.B. Marshall, treasurer; S. J. Wells; Enos Schellabarger; and H.H. Riley. H.B. Marshall was the manager.
The Brookville Telephone Co. connected with the United States Long Distance Telephone Co. at Dayton. The time allowed for all long distance messages, and to Dayton was three minutes. The charge for overtime was ⅓ of the original toll for each minute or fraction thereof, using the nearest multiple of five.
The Toll Stations were Amity, Arlington, Dodson, Hay’s Store and Pyrmont. Free Service for subscribers was to the following towns: Amity, Arlington, Dodson, Hay’s Store, Harrisburg (Englewood), Philipsburg, Pyrmont, Salem (Clayton), Union, Wengerlawn, and West Baltimore (Verona).
All rentals and toll charges were due and payable to the manager between the first and tenth of each month or quarter.
Some of the rules were: One ring calls the exchange; no reversing of messages allowed; minutes andhe phone during a thunder storm; swearing or the use of improper language forfeits your right to the line; never leave the receiver off the hook as it made it impossible to ring you and destroys the batteries; free service to subscribers to other towns was limited to five minutes, and did not include messenger fees; charges for overtime was one-fifth of regular rate for each minute; all persons were required to give their name to the operator before receiving out of town service. All toll messages were charged to the phone holder; Central reserved the right to use a line at any time for important messages.
All information and the photo for this Look at Brookville article were supplied by the Brookville Historical Society. Do you have a photo or historical information to share or add? Please contact the Brookville Historical Society at 937-833-0285 or email to [email protected].
