Originally known as "Phone Town", this community along the National Road
was once a major telecommunication center in America. In 1893,
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) selected this
site as the location for a repeater station to boost transmission for the
company's long distance lines between Pittsburgh and St. Louis. The
first operations were located in the local Grange Hall. This soon proved
to be too small, and AT&T built a three-story structure to house telegraph
and operator assisted station-to-station calls.
The top floor housed the telegraph operations. Personal and business
messages as well as communications for the Associated Press, United
Press and International News Service were handled here.
The second floor contained the long distance center. Operators were
responsible for 120 circuits that connected east and west coasts and all
other parts of the nation. Special emergency circuits were also located
here for use by the press and government agencies. Electric power
was provided by on-site generator to make sure that operations could
continue in any weather.
Telephone switching systems ceased in 1936 with the installation
of an automated system at the AT&T office in Dayton. Part of the
original three-story building remains.
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