1900’s Pacific Telephone & Telegraph operators
August 28, 2008 – 8:00 am
The old San Luis Obispo telephone exchange when it was located on Chorro Street.
Pictured here are Cecelia Dodge (standing) Ruth Johnson, nee Haley, Elena Bellani, nee Heyd, Mael Seely, nee Sutliff and Maymie McMillan.
The exterior photo shows the 1894-95 San Luis Obispo telephone office located in the Knapp building on Higuera Street next to the old city hall.
Tribune librarian, Sharon Morem found two earlier Pacific Telephone and Telegraph exchange photos than the ones we published earlier this month.
These look much older than the mid-1960’s photos we had before. My guess is these are from the early 1900’s or late 1800’s.
Other than the wood burning stove, the technology looks much the same; only the dresses seem to have changed.
The big revolution would come later with transistor technology and touch-tone phones.
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5 Responses to “1900’s Pacific Telephone & Telegraph operators”
David, Your article and photo of the telephone operators sure brought back memories. My first job was as a long distance operator with Pac. Tel & Tel in Portland,OR. When I see the progress we’ve made with communications, 1950 now seems like the dark ages – but it was a great job then.
By Dodie Williams on Aug 28, 2008
Hi:
Do you have any photos from the 1800’s of a telegraph operator?? We are looking for one to use in an exhibit.
We have restored an 1899 U.S. Weather Service building and are doing an exhibit on the weather service.
Thanks
Chris
By Chris Sams on Feb 25, 2009
Hi Chris,
This is all we have. You may want to leave some contact information in a comment, this page gets a lot of hits and someone who is a telegraph history buff may have what you need.
By David Middlecamp on Feb 25, 2009
Great photo. It’s amazing to think that, in this age of iPhones and Blackberry Storms, people once communicated in such an antiquated way.
By Sarah on Feb 25, 2009
Looking for information on 1957 operators’ strike. I was working in San Frncisco at the time. I would like the exact dates of this strike for my personal life history. Thanks, Pat Stephen
By Pat Lorenz Stephen on Aug 23, 2009