The 21st in a series of articles
for the 175th Anniversary of Bonham
Bonham, Texas -- In 1890 the Fannin County Commissioner’s Court gave permission to J. N. Hughes to string telephone wire throughout the county. Soon many communities had telephone systems. In the decades that followed these systems were connected. Advertisements which mentioned telephone numbers were in the Bonham Daily Favorite as early as 1894. It appears that the first business to advertise a telephone service was that of the undertaker.
By 1900 telephone service was in full operation in Bonham. The North Texas Telephone Company had offices on the 2nd floor of the Brownlee Building on the north side of the Square.
The Museum has a Bonham telephone directory for 1907 which shows 328 business and residential telephone numbers. By then, the telephone business had been sold and was renamed Texas Telephone Company.
The telephones of the 1920s in Bonham were the standing black telephones with the receiver on the side. This is an example from the Museum, but those in use in Bonham would not have had a dial feature.
During World War II telephone service was restricted because of the war effort.
“Telephone materials are also war materials, and winning the war is now by far the most important thing. The telephone service in any community is now limited to the present facilities except for defense purposes. The furnishing of party line service is the only way that telephone companies can serve more people.” -- Bonham Herald, 11-19-1942.
Dial telephones came to Bonham in 1955. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new $65,000 building of Texas Telephone Company, which would house the automatic equipment for Bonham’s dial telephone system, were held on August 17, 1955. It was noted that the new dial system would eliminate the practice of chatting with the telephone operator about where the fire alarm came in from and about the weather. Temporarily long distance calls still went through an operator.
In December 1955 the Bonham Daily Favorite ran a series of articles on seven telephone company workers who had served the company for more than 25 years, including operators and a lineman. Several had worked for the telephone company since the 1920s. Telephone operators were well-known and respected members of the community.
This dial phone is one of the most popular items at the Fannin County Museum of History. Children love to pick up this phone and dial.
The Museum is also so proud of this switchboard. It is amazing how many visitors to the Museum knew someone who was a telephone operator. And kids enjoy hearing about “party lines.”
Bring your kids to the Museum and give them a lesson on the history of the telephone.