Millington Telephone Company

Established 1928

The Millington Telephone company was originally constructed in 1912 by a Mr. Bass and a Mr. Hill and the system was almost entirely destroyed by a severe sleet storm in 1917. A Stock Company was then formed to take over and rebuild the exchange. This Stock Company provided the town with day service, except for Sundays and Holidays, for the next 11 years.

During this period of history it was the practice for rural subscribers to build and maintain their own lines and for the local telephone companies to switch these lines in the Central Office. Rural subscribers in Quito, Herring Hill, and Woodstock constructed their own lines into Millington to be served by the Company. In 1925 most of these lines were destroyed by another sleet storm and were not rebuilt. In 1926 Woodstock was provided with telephone service by another Company and was removed from the service area of the Millington Company.

Mr. B. L. Howard, a native of Mississippi and more recently a resident of San Francisco, California, bought the Stock Company in September of 1928. At that time there were 40 subscribers being served, 20 of which had orders for their telephones to be removed because of the part-time service. Mr. Howard began operating the Telephone Company on October 1, 1928 and began giving 24-hour service on October 15, 1928. Within a few years the new owner had replaced old poles and open wire in the town of Millington and Aerial Cable and had rehabilitated all rural lines. All new cable and lines were constructed to Bell specifications. During this period, while new construction was going on, the switchboard was being operated during the daytime by Mrs. Howard, and during the night time by both Mr. And Mrs. Howard. By 1932 service has been extended to 165 subscribers.

During the winter of 1933 another severe sleet storm leveled the lines of the Telephone System. At that time no experienced help was available and, with inexperienced assistance, service was restored to all subscribers in approximately six weeks. During the next several years all of the open wire lines were replaced with a new type wire which had high tensile strength properties and held up well during the sleet storm of 1936. By 1940 the number of subscribers receiving service from the Millington Telephone Company has increased to 200.

On December 7, 1941 a new telephone building had been completed and all of the equipment installed except the switchboards when an explosion of unknown origin occurred. The new Central Office burned to the ground. Undaunted, Mr. Howard immediately began rebuilding the Central Office and about the time it was completed the construction of the Naval Air Station began. In 194[?] the Telephone System was converted from Magneta to Common Battery service.

During World War II the Telephone Company was beset by many difficulties, chiefly involved in trying to provide service to subscribers in an area that had grown much more rapidly than the restrictions on materials would allow the Telephone Company to grow. The Telephone Company operated an Attended Service Center on the Naval Air Station, as well as pay-stations, over which thousands of calls were made by servicemen. After World War II was over, difficulties were multiplied may times, just as in the case of all other Telephone Systems, by the unprecedented post war demand for telephone service. The Company faced the problem of trying to borrow capital for an expansion program and went through many difficult times arranging for the franchise, incorporating, and working out other legal matters. In 1946 the Telephone Company began negotiating, with the Automatic Electric Company for dial equipment and, in 1949, applied to the Rural Electrification Administration for a loan to finance the construction and expansions of a completely new dial system.

During the winter of 1951, while awaiting a decision by the Railroad and Public Utilities Commission regarding this franchise, the Millington Telephone Company lines were struck down by the biggest sleet storm in the memory of local residents. At that time the Telephone Company provided service to about 540 subscribers and after the storm abated, only 40 subscribers still had service, however, temporary service was restored within six weeks. Permanent rebuilding of all lines was not completed until September, 1951.

The Millington Telephone Company was incorporated on March 30, 1951 and was granted a loan from the Rural Electrification Administration in April of 1952. Engineering work on the design of the new system began immediately after the loan from REA was secured and construction was actually started during the later part of December, 1952. Contracts were awarded to the Line Construction Company of Clarksdale, Mississippi for the Outside Plant work;; to the Automatic Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois for the Central Office Equipment; to the Southern Builders, Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee for the construction of the Central Office Building; and to Maury and Wedaman, of Memphis, Tennessee for the construction of the Warehouse and Garage. Construction work in the amount of approximately $120,000.00 was completed by the Telephone Company’s own forces. Both the design and construction work of the new telephone plant was complicated by the many unusual problems which go hand in hand with a rapidly growing community. It was necessary to devise many expedients in order to keep service to existing subscribers, to provide service to as many new subscribers as possible, and at the same time to completely rebuild the entire outside plant and central office facilities. The success of this program may be judged by the fact that at the time construction began, service was being provided to approximately 600 subscribers and at the completion of the expansion program, but before cutover to dial operations, service was being provided to slightly over 1,600 subscribers.

The employees of the Millington Telephone Company are proud of the fact that while construction was going on the Company did not wait for its completion in order to add subscribers and to streamline its procedures in preparation for an operation far different from the past. Routine procedures in the accounting department, practically all commercial office practices, and new working methods in the plant department were put into effect and carried out during the construction program. Modern billing machines and modern billing methods were tested and tried and shaped to fit the local situation. A modern combination billing machine was made for the Company which is used to make bills, payrolls, write checks, keep tax reports, make accounts payable and receivable ledgers, and to perform other tasks. The Company was one of the first in the country to employ the Microfilm Camera for processing toll tickets and in providing the subscriber with the original tickets when bills are rendered.

The Millington Telephone Company, Inc., and its employees, pledges to each subscriber that they will provide the most modern and best dial service possible to the subscribers so that The Telephone Story will continue to be a story of progress.