• Sunday - What'sUP? November 8 - 07:14 am

Edie and I grabbed these shots during a recent visit to the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Just the kind of thing we like for our weekly Shoebox Memory.

As you read these words, it is fascinating to consider the intricate network which brings it to your eyes. Can you imagine if we still had operators manually connecting us to the Internet? Then - node-by-node, hop-by-hop - manually connecting us to the website we seek? The old U.P. switchboard above was retired only 30 years ago. Hardware, software, and the way we think about networking has radically changed. Wonder what phones and the 'Net will be like 30 years from now?

Am I first?!

I can't believe there were actually maunual switchboards as late as 1974. I always think of that as something that was abandoned long before I was born (1966). I guess computerization started later than I thought.

Good morning. I am old enough to remember switchboards and party lines. Great pictures this morning. Is that a tree in the second picture?

I am to young to remember switch boards, but it is interesting to know about.

I can remember watching the original Star Trek series. People said it would be neat to have communicators as small as they had on the show and now we have cell-phones.

I remember as a young child I used to pick up the phone just to talk to the operator. She would say number please, & I would just start an irrelevant conversation from a young boy of 5-6 yrs old. They were happy to talk as long as it wasn't busy at the time!! Thanks ladies for a childhood memory!!!

I was an operator in Calumet. I loved that job.

I remember staying out at Rice Lake at friends of our family cottage. And you could not answer the phone unless it rang three rings at a time because of party line. We would also catch heck from our parents if we picked up the line to listen in on someone else line.

Great photo, 1020M please Operator? (Mohawk)
Alicia

Actually with corecomm.com as my internet provider AND with modem service, using a switchboard would probably go faster and be more reliable! :)

And having the operator listen in on my conversation would be no different than computer viruses that download my files and broadcast them over the internet.

1620R Mohawk......don

At age 51, I can clearly recall the manual telephone system used in the Houghton-Hancock Exchange as a kid. Lake Linden had the first dial phones when that office cutover in 1941. Chassell was next in 1949 and Houghton cutover to dial on July 1, 1962. The magento crank phones were replaced by a dial system in the Donken area on December 19, 1965 and the last manually operated office was cutover to dial operation in Calumet in May of 1966.

It was also the era of party lines, open wire circuits and an ever-present 60 cycle line "hum" that increased in volume the farther from town you went. Calling Dollar Bay or Atlantic Mine didn't produce much of this but calling Freda, The Suo District, Liminga, Oskar and Oneco sure gave you an earful!

I used to work for AT&T and ended up on strike duty in 1986 as an overseas operator in Pittsburg, PA. These "plug and play" units were still in use at that facility.

My aunt was one of those switchboard operators here in southern Indiana starting about the the latter part of WW2, then retiring after nearly 40 years, without missing a day of work, including our infamous blizzard of 1976 or there abouts, when the entire area shut down completely, except the phone company and emergency services. I remember "Number Please!?" and getting one of the first private lines and dial phones, because the phone company employees got priority on them. I can also remember the power of Ma Bell, when there was a huge phone company strike in the 50's and we could hear the company pick up and listen to our phone calls trying to scare the employee and their families. So like Big Brother watching. Well into the 60's we had family with a wall phone, you had to crank and ask for a number to be called. Thanks for a nice memory.

WOW! Only here would you find such an fine piece of history. This is really interesting and my wife, Cindy, has actually operated these before, at answering services in NJ. She got a kick out of seeing the photo too! Thanks, Charlie and Edie!

The top picture looks a lot like the inside of the Calumet office. I was an operator there and it was one of the most interesting and enjoyable jobs. Still like telephone work and communicating with people. The Houghton County Historical Museum has a section of the switchboard on display. Does that mean I'm History? :)

I remember being amazed at the first calculators and especially the credit card sized ones in the early 70's, but when you think back it doesn't seem so long ago. Its amazing how far we've come in the last 30 years.

My Grandmother had one of the first dial phones. One of those tall cylinder things with a mouthpiece on top of the cylinder and ear piece on a cord. I had made a friend in Laurium when we were there on vacation. Her # was a three digit number.

I also remember growing up in Detroit where we had one phone on the kitchen wall. When it rang, someone would call out, "Telephone." I did that a few times when my kids were growing up, and they thought it was the lamest, stupidest thing. It still gives me a chuckle.

I am 61 years old and I remember the switchboard operators in Calumet. My older sister was one and so was our neighbor. We have a cottage at Gratiot Lake and our phone is a dial and it is still listed as a party line. Back in 1998, I tried to convert to a digital touch tone system so that I could use my computer while at the cottage. I called Ameritech and told them what we wanted to do and they told me to plug the new phone in and the next day it would be changed over. It was 7 days later and we still didn't have a telephone that worked. Their computer "whizzes" couldn't fix it in their system because they never heard of a party line. Need I say more?

Speaking of telephones...
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.

So where do you suppose you would have to go to find the first telephones in Michigan, and when? ... Detroit, perhaps?

No, try Yooper country! - Ontonagon County, to be exact, where Linus Stannard (for whom Stannard Township was named) installed the first telephones in the state of Michigan in his home and general store in Rockland in 1877. Can you say "cutting edge technology"?

By the winter of 1877-1878 the telephone lines had been extended to Ontonagon by way of Greenland, leading in short order to the formation in October, 1879 of the Ontonagon Telegraph Company, now the Ontonagon County Telephone Company - see the OCTC history page as well.

They were so far ahead of their time that it took until August of 1907 for the lines from the rest of the world (via the Michigan State Telephone Company, later Ameritech, then SBC) to reach the neighborhood.

When traveling through the area, check out the museum in Rockland, just 12 miles south of Ontonagon on US-45, too, where you'll find the switchboard used by the first telephone company in the State of Michigan.

Does the ol' Yoop have a rich heritage, or what?

Looks like the photo was taken from outside as there appears to be a reflection in the photograph and my question is the woman standing the supervisor or just tired of sitting. Hope someone knows.

I've been enjoying the banter regarding party lines and how they are a distant memory.I took a look in the most recent local SBC telephone directory and found information regarding surrendering your conversation over a party line in the event of an emergency.I assume that party lines are still available if anybody would like one.Does anyone know if they do indeed still exist?

The woman standing is most likely a supervisor or waiting to take over for one of the gals going on break or to lunch. When one got tired of sitting at the board they could stand at their position for a while and still operate the board.

It's funny how some things never leave your memory!! I remember our telephone number when I was a child was 2234W. Hancock, MI

I remember the switchboard operators from my youth growing up in Ironwood. We didn't make the switch to dial phones until maybe '63-64. Our number was 3677W. We had a party line which my parents continued into the early '80s. Sometimes the operators recognized your voice and helped you out if you were trying to call someone and had the wrong #. Sure was helpful for a kid.

1056-J Kearsarge,Tatrow the Perona family was on the same line. Just remember the lady on the other end always sounded so pleasant & happy.Thank You for the awaking of old memories.

You know what I miss? Phone numbers with words in them. My home phone was Dunkirk 3-3272, plus in the area there were Warwick, Avenue, Louzon... let's see, that's reaching pretty far back.... Okay that's all I remember for now. It gave phone numbers some zing!

There was also texas, webster, tashmoo ,vermont , davison, hogarth These were in the Detroit area.

My # growing up was Webster 5-2876. I didn't remember that till I moved to a little house whose # is 2876. Then, bingo, the old phone # came back. All the memories are there, friends, but sometimes take a trigger to come to the forefront. (like Pasty Cam provides)

Therese from just below the bridge: You must have moved north. I had an Avenue prefix on our phone number in the 1960's. Gary from just below Detroit, originally.

I have a friend who grew up in Tennessee and worked at a switchboard like that, I think in college, but maybe in high school. Her claim to fame is that she once handled a call for Elvis Presley! I forget who he was calling.

Our first phone was a 16 party line. Ours was 1181J2 - preceded by J1 and followed by J3, J4, J1-1(one long ring, one short),J1-2,J1-3,J1-4. The other side of the line was the M part 1181M1, etc. No long conversations - you'd get the clicking of the button to let you know that someone else wanted the line.

We used to talk for free on the pipeline. It was a number you dialed and got a busy signal, and you could talk between the beeps. Whoever shouted the loudest got heard. The original internet.

329, 3290 at my dad's office.

We didn't have a party line in Calumet because, as a doc, my dad needed to be "reachable" all the time. To this day, when the phone rings, he still cringes...

I can remember a phone company person coming to our class in Mrs. Pelligrini's 6th grade at Washington School to teach us how to use the "new" dial phones. And I have vivid memories of the operator telling me to get off the phone when I was being saucy...

Towsend 8-7726 was our number when I was growing up in Highland Park. Started out as a party line but later was our own line.

Oops, that's Townsend....I meant

oh no...it was 865-1680, must have been someone elses number I have engrained in my mind. 86 was Townsend I believe. before I was 9, we lived in Warren and maybe one of those was from there. It's amazing what the memory can bring back on demand...and what it can't too.

Our number in Fulton, 40-J. My Grandparents in Mohawk, 560-M. Kentala's Bakery--766.

I'm not certain the why's of this, but when I was a young girl, if I wanted to call my friend Gail, I dialed xxx-1189, even though their actual phone number was xxx-1181. She had a brother and a sister and they both had a certain number to dial for each of them too. It would ring a different number of rings for each number. That way, they knew who the call was for, before they answered it! Maybe a throw-back from the party-lines?

Maija in Seattle,

Check out Saturdays cam notes - I made a reply to your message...

Ace Drop me a line.
Last time I talked to you I was heading towards Houston a week b-4 you.
I'M still driving but have'nt been in that area in a while.
Gonna start going that way in Dec. Or Jan.
Jack J.

Another Detroit "prefix"..

Kenwood.. (northwest area)

New Hampshire.......1960 our number was 1358M

My girlfriend's mom owned the local paper....
Their number was 7, (maybe I should have stayed a little closer with that one....LOL)

Great pictures. I was an operator in Winona,
Mn. Brings back great memories! Grew up in Calumet, Michigan.

Thanks for the memories -- I grew up in a small town in Iowa in the 40's and 50's. We had a three party line. Our number was Green 459. To call some one, you picked up the phone and waited for the operator to answer and then you would give her the number you wanted to call. One of my friend's grandfather owned the local phone company and we would sneak in the back door of the phone company and watch the operators at work and try to imagine all of the different places in the country they were routing calls to.

Ontonagon had five digit numbers and Rockland had four digits only for calls within town until 1985.

Jack - When you make it down this way, we are the only Yrjana in the Fort Worth & Arlington phone book.Take care & looking forward to see someone from back home.

Elizabeth... Mi.
I grew up in Rockland, Mi. and remember my mom telling me that during the war there was a shortage of phones and so she donated ours.
Oh, the party lines..what fun. At least people
didn't call at all hours of the night. Baraga
county still had party lines in the late 1990's

I remember those party lines, we had one at our house in Mohawk. As a teen it was absolute agony to wait for the sweet elderly lady to get off the phone so we could use it! I also remember my grandmother making phone calls through the operator. I thought THAT was cutting edge technology back then, you didn't even have to dial!

Oh, and you you should have seen the beautiful northern lights over Lake Orion/ Oxford this evening. Haven't seen anything like that around these parts for several years. *sigh* Wish I was back in the Copper Country.

Amazing Aurora here tonight also. A shimmering curtain of light surrounds us.

Fenton's was Maine...ME9-9956 was my number from the time I was 4 until I moved to Florida when I was 27....back in 76. I have a pencil from the Fenton Greenhouse....their phone number was 32! Wouldn't give it up...but may leave it to the town museum when I go. Along with a bunch of other stuff...what a packrat I am!

I don't remember the short phone numbers like all those mentioned, but I do remember party-lines when I was quite young. This is such a great place for conjuring up memories of the past and home. Like, for instance two things today: Mrs. Pelligrini's sixth grade class at Washington School was my first class when I moved to Laurium from Hancock. She was a tough teacher in alot of ways, but I also learned alot from her. One thing I didn't like was that she checked our teeth every morning and was not very kind in her comments to the kids who didn't brush! The other memory was the mention of Kentala's Bakery. My friend's mother dated Doug Kentala for awile when I was in grade school and I remember visiting there with her and thinking how cool it would be to have your very own bakery! Anyway, enough of that. Thanks for memories of people I haven't thought of in ages.

The Aurora is quite strong tonight. We are getting a show down here on the Illinois prairie in El Paso, IL about 530 miles due south of Eagle River. It has been going since sunset and is covering the northern half of the sky - even going overhead at times. I have never seen it so strong and so high down here. It isn't quite as well defined as it is in the Keweenaw - we have more air and light polution. It must be really great to see over Superior!

Lisa- We lived in Lake Orion until I was 5yrs. old & moved back to the Copper Country. The road we lived on was drainer rd.( not sure on the spelling.) Back then it was out in the country, I'm sure it has grown just like every were else. Grow up in Kearsarge. Have a good evening!

WOW! Aurora Borealis tremendous display here tonight also!! Casco Twp. southern St. Clair county north of Lake St. Clair. From north to direct overhead!
Most active ENE over across Canadian border (nearby). It is mostly a silver green here with occasional streaks of silver pink! One of the most impressive displays We've seen in a long time!

In these parts of SE Michigan I can remember such phone exchanges as HOward, PRescott, RAymond, PIoneer, COngress, SLocum, etc. As a boy living in the east side of Detroit (when not living in the Copper Country), I remember VAlley, LEnox, DRexel, TUxedo, WAlnut, TYler, WOodward, RAndolph, UNiversity, DIamond, VInewood, EDgewater, etc. And Pontiac was FEderal.
Our # in 1949 was WAlnut 1-9130 & our # when we moved "out" to St. Clair Shores in 1950 was PRescott 5-6932!

I remember the days in the fifties, when my brother was in charge, with parents out of town, having to check in with one of the operators in Calumet,,,when I got in. If I didn't check in, it always wasn't too pleasant.

My parents in troll land still have their dial phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen. It's a replacement from the 70's for the original dial phone put in in the 60's and it is still their main phone. They do have a button phone but hardly ever use it.
I remember when the dial part of the phone would stop working we could click the hook in the pattern of the phone number we wanted to call, pausing for a second between numbers, and it would dial it. It worked for local calls but I don't know if it worked for long distance.

I retired from Ameritech in 1999. I maintained the Menominee central office. We still had 2 party lines. You could not order one as new service but the existing ones were grandfathered.

Lucy, what year did you move to Laurium? I loved Mrs. Pelligrini, too -- learned so much that year. We had to diagram sentences and do math and spelling drills. It helped teach you to think. She was a "whole child" teacher -- everyone got a valentine from everyone, you learned to be polite to each other...and she was strict, but very, very fair.

I was a cable splicer,trouble shooter in the early sixties, located in Newberry with St Ignace as a portion of our assigned area. Our work began behind the switchboard on what was called the mainframe and I very well remember the above scene of this switchboard. The office was located in a home type building one block from the main street.

When I saw this switchboard, all these memories came flooding back. The company I worked for burnt to the ground in 1979. They relocated temporarily to 8 and Southfield, not a great neighborhood so they didn't want to get all new furniture or a new telephone system. They brought in a smaller version switchboard than the one pictured above. Our office manager had worked on one in the 1940's so she trained 3 of us. Unfortunately, I was the only one who got the knack of handling the old dinosaur. We couldn't not keep a switchboard operator, as soon as they saw what they'd be working on, they left the same day, so I was pulled from my assistant's job to be the switchboard operator. At 4:00 PM every day, the salesmen would start calling in and it would light up like a christmas tree.

By 4:30 PM all would be quiet and one day as I relaxed after plugging and pulling out the cords, a audience had gathered to watch me in action. I got a standing ovation! Thank goodness I only had 2 months to use it before we moved to a new location and they got the modern Dimension system. It was definitely an experience everyone should have in their lifetime!

When I was a young child in the late 40s / early 50s, my parents made me memorize our phone number. I'd forgotten about that until I saw this discussion.

We do the same thing today, plus our kids get all kinds of photo & computerized id, for safety purposes.

Anyway, our number in Houghton was 95J0.

Candy: I believe we must have moved to Laurium in 1967 or '68, that school year anyway, whichever month it was. (Took me a few minutes to figure it out.)The other names that stick out in my mind from that year in a brand new class are Susan Limback and Mary Magnino because they were so friendly to me, and Paul and Peter Curto, because they were twins and the teacher used their names alot. I think you were at least a year or two ahead of me.

I was working on-air at WUPY radio in Ishpeming when St. Ignace finally converted. The day after the conversion, we called the hardware that used to have phone number 1 and asked them what it was like not being Number One any longer.

We used to do a lot of stuff like that.

Oh I forgot! Like "Jack in CT" (which reminded me), We still are using one of the last rotary dial desk phones they had. (1990/91!)It is a "decorator" model Red & Cream! We also have a couple of newer button phones we don't use often. It always amuses me that so many of the young folks under 35 or so haven't a clue how to use the rotary dial! We persist on using it cause the ringing is so much louder we can hear it WAY out in the yard or way at the other end of upstairs!
Of course these phones are now plugged into this computer as is the current method.

Lucy, you must have been in my sister Vicky's class, but I don't remember if she had Mrs. Pelligrini or not. Class of '74?

Sarah K / Troll: I think your exchange was University. We lived a couple miles west of Highland Park off McNichols in the 60's, and our number was UN1-2449. My grandparents had a Broadway exchange further west in Detroit, and later on we had a Venice exchange on the east side of Detroit in the early 70's.

Candy, yes it was class of '74, but I actually finished my last two years back in Hancock. I pulled out the old "Peacepipe" from '71 and '72 and I see you were class of '71. I do remember Vicki, but was not well acquainted with her. I remember she laughed alot, always upbeat, very popular. I don't think she was in Mrs. Pelligrini's class, but I could be wrong. Was too long ago.

I was downstate over the week-end so missed the Sunday picture....I was an operator in Houghton then transferred to Milwaukee in '62 when the Houghton office changed over to dial phones. Oh, the memories of saying "number please"---Milwaukee was all long distance...no local calls...that, too, was very interesting.

I forgot all about you being an operator, big sister... You transferred out when I was only 3! My goodness.

The fifth operator from the right is my aunt Signe and the second from the right could be aunt Lempi.

Yes, that's definitely Aunt Signe! What a wonderful picture.
Brings back memories of the good old days in St. Ignace. You'd
pick up the phone and wait for the operator to say, "Number,
please". Our home phone number was 242!!

By the way, HHR above is my sister!

Memories .....

I remember sitting on the big stool, as a little girl, with the operators and pretending to take calls at the Ontonagon Telephone company. My great,great grandfather was Linus Stannard. I remember stories of how he met Mr. Bell at the world's fair in the 1800's and wrote to him when he returned to Rockland ordering several phones (I believe they were called Telegraphs back then). Growing up we had an old switchboard in our garage that my friends and I played with. Nice memories of growing up in Ontonagon.

I lived in St Ignace during part of that time. (1971-1974) I remember having a 3 digit phone number, and a very enjoyable time living there. Always plenty of outdoor fun to enjoy, winter or summer.

i was one of those telephone operators. worked in calumet, mi until they switched over to dial. those were the days!!!

My mother in-law is in this picture LaVerne Shimkovitz. She is still going strong. I can't wait to show her this picture the next time shes over.

.I started as an tele oopr in a small town of Globe Az in 1973. on the cord board. when I transfered to phoenix in 76 was the year they were computerized , I believe they called it
t.s.p.s. have moved on to other jobs because of the layfoffs but that was the best job I have ever held. carol sanchez phoenix arizona