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Showing posts with label operator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label operator. Show all posts

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Beaumont Telephone Exchange was constructed in 1902 as a branch office and exchange for the Bell Telephone Company. This building represents one of few remaining examples of the period of rapid growth in the telephone industry in the early 1900's.

In November of 1877, Alexander Graham Bell's American Telephone and Telegraph company granted a license to expand service to Saint Louis. Early on, George Durant, the general manager of ADT (the American District Telegraph Company), leased equipment for private lines. Eventually it was decided that a central switchboard would be more efficient. Thus having started with twelve subscribers in 1878, this would be the first exchange in what would later be known as the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. By 1880, this new company had 600 subscribers. Soon they outgrew their offices and moved from 417 Olive to 902 Olive and finally, in 1902, to their present location, where it was said to be "one of the best equipped of modern exchanges".

Over the years, as advances in technology were made, additions were made to the building which directly reflect the exchange adapting to meet them. This building served the telephone services industry throughout its entire career up until the mid 1990's. It was used for a few years as a training center, but eventually the equipment must have simply become too obsolete for even that role. It has been vacant ever since.

See our virst hisit here: here.

Source: National Record Historic Nomination Form

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I have revisited this location since these photos were taken. For the latest photos, including historical information, please see my latest visit, here.

The air was stale and moldy inside, as you'd expect. But something felt different about it. Faint sounds buzzed from somewhere down the long vacant hallways as we approached. The lights seemed to be on, but there was no way anyone still worked in here. In the back of your mind, though, there's always room for doubt. Entering the main switch room felt like stepping back in time. Not only was the electricity still on, but it seemed like it had been left on for years. Decades even. The last remaining fluorescent lights were yellowed from age and buzzing loudly. Everything was motionless, the thick air did not seem to stir at all. Time itself hung suspended in the air. You could just feel how long the lights had been on and everything had just been left sitting there.. A coffee cup sat undisturbed on the edge of one of the switchboards, likely from the last person to have packed up and left here however many years ago. Apparently someone forgot to tell them to shut off the lights when they left that day. Even time itself, it seems, forgot about this place.

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar

Beaumont Telephone Exchange © 2014 sublunar