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the tribune st0uffv1lle 187719j7 37 this picture was taken in 1930 and is a shot of the telephone company as it was back then from left to right tom rae the secretary and treasurer tom jennings he is 93 years old clayton tarr and del bert jennings is 82 both of the jennings are still living on lloyd st in stouffville many of the older people in the town of stouffville look back on the old bethesda and stouffville telephone co with appreciation and fond memories the company first came about in 1903 when a d bruce first founded it it later expanded to a shareholding company as the area it had to cover had grown the company was now serving stouff- ville bethesda claremont and whit church there was a 6 per cent dividend and in those days that was considered pretty good it was a much sought after public company the company offices and switchboard were located in the former ratcliff block and when that burned down they moved west on main st to where a beauty salon now stands until they sold out to bell telephone the sale became unavoidable when the need for newer more modern equipment became greater the telephone company also worked alongside the fire department there was a button by the switchboard that sounded off the fire alarm when the operator received a call about a fire there were many young women in town who were employed at the telephone company many of the older folks m town will remember the messages relayed by the operators that were sometimes social gossip sometimes gravely important messages the emergency service was so much quicker as there was direct emergency intojhe switchboard and messages were relayed without delay this is a shot of the telephone operators in 1950 from left to right tom rae secretary johnson nee stouffer lola hoover and lillian logan nee shannon treasurer and the operators myrtle crossen aurelia smith geraldine