i p Telephone Line Linked Aurora Newmarket When Roe the unofficial founder would Intercept the In- lane and bargain with them under the huge elm then flourished on what at present Timothy street Mile he or they realise how much they could have simplified their neg otiations if there had only been a telephone circuit available In day Year later they might have saved much fuss and bother and many steps by lim ply picking up their telephone and exchanging relating to price and the descriptions of he commodities up for barter lit However the telephone was not invented until many later In to be exact But in the pioneering spirit that characterised William Roe Newmarket one of the ear lier communities to have tele- phono service The Bell Tele phone Company of Canada was organized In April WO one year prior to Newmarkets Incorpora tion a town and only four years elapsed before telephone line linking Newmarket and Au rora was constructed and ex change were placed In service In each centre Late in a line was built to Toronto linking Newmarket with many centre throughout the province Another line was built to Barrio and in the fol lowing year thia was extended to Owen Sound The January Ontario directory contained the news of local subscribers All except those of David the Telephone agent resid ing on Pearson street and merchant Prospect St were In business offices The first switchboard was In sulted In Mr Lloyds office at the corner of Main end streets Service was given from to pm weekdays to pm Sundays and to am holidays far Local The first list of Newmarket telephone customers appearing In the January directory follows Bailey baker and con fectioner Main St Dr offices Main St Cano and Sons lumber and wooden ware Huron St Federal Bank corner of Main and Water St Cower James hardware mer chant Main St Lloyd David insurance agent Main and Sts Lloyd David residence Pear son St DIAL FOR IK BEST SHELL Fuel Oil for fast metered our deliveries r is TWining 52641 dial 54661 DAVIDSON AUSTIN PETROLEUM Box PRODUCTS LTD Nmmwket Cher dealer in grain produce coif lime etc Newmarket Jack son publisher Main St Newmarket Hat Co Ashworth and Son Water St book and depot Main St North York Reformer Rat- cliff publisher Niagara St Northern and NorthWestern station Huron St merchant resi dence Prospect St A merchant Main Street Bros merchant mill Timothy St Royal Hotel Alex McKinnon prop Main St Sutherland Bros merchants Main St C Norrls whose Book and News Depot on Main St hid been listed In directory took on the companys agency that year He was suc ceeded by Starr also Book and News Depot Main St who bought out the business the telephone agency included Same Number CI Years No numbers were yet assigned and did not appear in the books for Newmarket until the 1890s The directory was the first one giving numbers three of which were still in use after more than half a century In May the number as signed to the Cemetery Company and was still used In the direc tory of October although the firm name had been changed to the Newmarket Cemetery Co The same circumstances applied In the cases of the Grand Trunk Railway which has subsequently become the CN It station on Davis Dr and the residential telephone of Dr A Webb the latter listed In the name of Mrs A Webb Pork The numbers were and 3 respectively During 1903 a major improve ment was made in Newmarkets telephone service when continu ous service was introduced for the first time Long distance and local calls could be placed at any time which was a big boon especially to business and professional men The town at this lime was a rapidly growing centre well over 2000 citi zens and telephones With the telephone proving its worth the number of telephones here had reached only three years later Newmarket To Sutton A line was built between Newmarket and Sutton during the construction period of and in June the Telephone Association rag The Newmarket Era and press Nov TransCanada System Speeds Telephone Calls Across Nation Back in 1911 these men travelled in the Newmarket In this wagon a far cry from todays modern green Bell Telephone truck fleet erecting telephone poles and stringing wire and cable Fore man was Charles Leslie second from right Bell Historical Photo connecting at with the names of New mark el three sub scribers listed in the local di rectory Mortimore was appointed the Bell Telephones local man ager in He was also in charge of suboffices at Queens ville Sharon and Holland Land ing There were then 213 tele phones in Newmarket the figure- being comprised of two booths to serve the public and business and residential telephones Reports of the period indicate that the local magneto switch board was becoming rather over loaded and that there was much traffic on the long distance switchboard also April the office at Newmarket was moved to a new location the Star Building The growth of the exchange had made it necessary to secure more room for expansion Arthur Angus Smith was ap pointed local manager in Ills tenure of office lasted until when he was succeeded by A Price Following postwar expansion J Bruce became manager in November Miss McCaffrey local repre sentative A further example of the pro gress in the local telephone busi ness is afforded by the fact that Sweanor became the first local plant wire chief in 1921 Modern Town A news item in the Toronto Globe of January men tioned both Newmarket and the latest craze radio Newmarket IMPLY For CLASSIFIED ADS DISPLAY ADVERTISING NOTICES NEWS ITEMS AND ALL YOUR PRINTING NEEDS TTTTWS DEADLINES CLASSIFIEDS DISPLAY ADS stjsKM i Li I- I WEDNESDAY AM TUESDAY NOON FOR SPACE BOOKING TUESDAY 5 PM FOR COPY r a Era and Express J 30 Charles St Newmarket is essentially a modern With radio an innovation the town has at present radio re ceivers It has telephone users electric light consum ers and town water consum ers Actually the Bell Tele phone Company records show that there were indeed almost suubscribcrs at the time August directory listed Miss Koran as local representa tive reporting to E Brew ster manager at who had general Jurisdiction over New market Miss M Boyd was list ed local representative in 1924 Mr Brewster being desig nated as District Manager In the following year S J was the district manager with Miss Boyd still local representa tive i J Franklin succeeded to the latter position in Expanding operations in the interest of better service the Bell Telephone Company bought out the Telephone System as it was then called on Nov ember A Schnurr was local manager at lime having been named two years previously During the fall floods the Newmarket Bridge went out and local Bell con struction men A Day Cecil Van A Arnold and It Smith were cited for their bravery while risking their lives to save valuable property first Transatlantic Call A memorable event look place during July to demonstrate to Newmarket residents how the world was being brought as close the nearest telephone John Kirstinc of the department of agriculture made Newmarkets first transatlantic telephone call The call of an emergency na ture his sisterinlaw living in South England was filed at am and completed at am the duration of the discussion being 11 minutes However as the 1930s ad vanced the widespread effect of the stock market crash could be seen in local telephone statistics Holmes followed by J A were Hit managers dur ing these trying times The record showed the extreme low of the depression years Aflcr Hint there was gradual increase small at first but steady At the of the year in which World War become a reality was within two of lis previous record of tele phones in And before the termination of hostilities there were well over a thousand telephones in operation and people waiting for service Cranks Out In A red letter day in local tele phone history was March when the Belt Telephone Company Introduced the Improv ed common battery system to replace the old magneto system and tin use of hand cranks to summon operator was elim inated It same mm In the Star Building a new switchboard Incorporating devices for the timing of long distance tickets was put Into service II Stevens at present Western Area Commercial Manager in Toronto was the local manager during litis period Hanging over a of ton It McClelland Hinsdale filled Hie position of local manager during the World and postwar per iods My III of tele phone usees had con- ami during the next five years much was done to keep of the new demands New equipment and outside wiro and entile facilities were hi la lied to bundle the great increase In the number of local and lung calls There were telephones lit In nearly double Ih of and a gain of percent in less than three year The volume of calls hail also greatly increased In the Operator bundling local and long distance call on the average day By IMS dully local calls numbered on average and the long dis tance calls had doubled in vol ume The exchange waa hand- town local and long dis tance calls per day in 1948 It Van was then the man ager The operating staff was increased to a total of in 1949 and two new long distance cir cuits were added to Toronto The existing system of underground and overhead cables was ex panded and construction crews were active in all parts of town especially in southwest sec tion The new business office was opened at Main street and the efficiency of mainten ance and repair service proced ures was improved The addi tion of 55 new telephones in Heights was another step forward Mr who had been the local manager from to 1948 returned in October following two years at the general offices in Toronto He is at present local manager wilh supervision over the offices at Newmarket Aurora Richmond Hill Sutton Roches Point Tottenham Bradford King Maple Schom- Canadiau telephone users have been able to talk from coast to coast over Canadian lines since the beginning of when the TransCanada Telephone System was opened Until then across- calls had to rout ed through the United States The system Is an outstanding berg and Another Indication of Newmar kets growing Importance as a telephone centre was given when tenders were called in January for the erection of a large work centre for the accommoda tion and servicing of Bell Tele phone vehicles and to provide for the storage of tools and materials and office facilities More recently tenders called for in late July for the construction of the present building on the- south side Millard Avenue which houses the new uptodate dial ex change The Bell Telephone Company j engineering aspects of the plan is engaged in a continuing pro- and work began in 1330 to make gram of expansion and improve- j it a reality It was a pioneering in this section of Ontario j effort in the historic tradition of Mr stated recently those who had the iteel The efficient and widespread of the railroad from Coast telephone service to be provided coast This time it war copper by Newmarkets new dial sysj telephone wire was going tern will undoubtedly and rpater station to the growth and pros- had to be built at points along perity of this community and the route to rejuvenate the surrounding areas in the years j wearied voice currents arid send to come them on their way example of cooperative effort In which the seven major tele phone systems of the country participate These arc the Mari time Telegraph and Telephone Company the New Brunswick Telephone Company the Bell Telephone Company of Canada the provincial government tele phone systems in Manitoba Sas katchewan and Alberta and the British Columbia Telephone Co A management committee of ex ecutive representatives from each of these systems directs the TransCanada system and rev enues from its operation are portioned among the systems Costs of operation and the facili ties used are similarly shared and provided Pioneering Effort The TransCanada first discussed in but not until did the plan begin to take shape The Bell Telephone Company of the seven systernswas to study the WANT A TAXI TWining 54311 RAYS TAXI WATER ST NEWMARKET THEYRE NEW THEYRE DIFFERENT Our New Street Address and Dial Telephone Number NEW STREET ADDRESS NEW PHONE 69 MAIN ST TWining 54131 EWMARKET ITS NEW ITS DIFFERENT RESILACRETE CONCRETE Permanently Ends Dust ATTRACTIVE COLOURS GLOSSY NONSKID FINISH JUST BRUSH IT ON FOR CONCRETE FLOORS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE J I