Early Cambridge telephones were leased in pairs and communication was only possible between the two instruments of the same pair (think of two tin cans connected with string). If you wanted to be able to talk to 5 different people, you had 5 different phones in your house.
The first telephone exchange was installed in Cambridge in 1900. It was located over Frisbee’s store and Mabel Frisbee was the operator. The exchange allowed its 150 subscribers to talk to any other subscriber in the village.
In 1903 the Hudson River Telephone Company established an exchange in the village.
In 1905 the Granville Telephone Company purchased the exchange. Manager Grant Danyew (sp?) moved the growing business to the Hotel Cambridge.
In 1916 the exchange was moved to its new office (Don Brennan’s old house across from the post office).
New York Telephone Company purchased the operation in 1932. When workers renovated the office, they found an 1834 copper penny in the corner of the foundation, making it the oldest “telephone building” in the state. The penny was framed and hung in the business office.
Here’s a May-1913 photo of the operators when the telephone exchange was in the Cambridge Hotel lobby. From the ceiling I’d guess this was the Main Lobby, in the NW corner where the pay telephone booths were in the 1960s I *think* Theresa Ford Sission is one of the operators. I guess Manager Grant Danyew is another.
Theresa Ford’s sister, Elizabeth, is seen sitting at the telephone exchange when it was across from the post office. If a party was not at home, Elizabeth was known to call around the village trying to locate the party at other places he was known to frequent
Here’s a photo of the crew who spent the summer (1947 or 1948, as I recall) switching out the old operator-assisted telephone lines and installing direct-dial exchange lines. The names people provided me are from left-to-right: Elmer Dering, ?? Catellier, Bob Tuttle, Gus Dering, ??, and Don Bates. The guy is front is believed to be an out-of-towner who supervised the crew.
I have a copy of the very first Cambridge telephone book. There are 7 pages dedicated to explaining how to use a rotary dial … put your finger in the circle next to the digit you wish to use … rotate the dial clockwise until it reaches the stop … and so on.