1909 Local Telephone Story

From a 1909 issue of the Fort Payne Journal.  The beginning of local telephone service with independent lines which were to be connected to Southern Bell lines in Fort Payne. In the early days AT&T/Bell installed lines in the larger towns like Fort Payne while the rural communities would have to install their own telephone lines through local cooperatives. Early projects like this were the beginning of Farmers Telephone Coop.