Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/174

Hogan were sitting in the kitchen of their ancestral

home in the mid-1920's when the telephone on the wall gave a shrill ring. "Ellie, come here! That thing's ringing again!" came from Grandmoth er Hogan, who wouldn't have anything to do with the new contraption . The house still stands on the southwest comer of North Virginia Avenue and West "B" Street, where the Grover Frye family now lives. The old magneto set on the wall had to be cranked to alert the operator. Another feature of this early telephone in Brunswick was a mandatory party line with twelve parties on each line. This required a user to wait until the renter of one of the dozen lines with the same number but a different letter - like 297J - finished her conversatio n and hung up the earpiece. People were even said to lift the receiver off the hook and eavesdrop on their neighbors. This magnificent wall box with separate earpiece and hard varnish finish is a collector's litem today. Refining the heavy wall phone to an upright bakelite model whose earpiece fitted neatly to one sideoftheph oneended the need tousethecra nk.Up to this time, Brunswick was served by an exchange - or central office - at two different locations. Mrs.Juanita Moler Goode and Mr. Sherman Lowry recall one location on the upper floor of what has come to be called the Cincotta Building, at 26 West Potomac Street. (Today, Antiques N' Ole Stuff is located on the street floor.) Mildred Smith Mills and Mildred Mohler Zecher were operators there.Later the exchange was moved to the second floor of a small building to the rear of the first Bank ofBrunswic k. This would be about where the DriveIn area is now located. A dial was added to the base of the upright model in 1923 when dialing came to Maryland. Twelve years later, on May 10, 1935 Brunswick's central office equipment was changed to dial operation, the first in Frederick County. Mayor Harry Mace made the first call to the Mayor of Williamsport. Five hundred and ten phones were converted to dial operation. Among the Brunswick people at the cutover ceremony were Nellie Nichols, Bessie Mohler, Mabel Harrison, and Lavetta Thomas. After dial service was installed, although Brunswick calls were dialed, long-distan ce calls were still operator assisted for a while. Since Brunswick' s exchange became dial service before World War II, there was quite a time gap until the rest of the county had that service. The Great Conflict put everything on hold except the war effort. By then a streamlined base was designed to

151

-

--- - - - ----

cradle a hand-held bar with mouthpiece at one end and earpiece at the other. This basis pattern is still used.Anoth er refinement was the gradual decrease in the number of parties to a line: from 12 to eight; from eight to four. Today, most telephones have private lines, except for those in remote areas. Further improveme nts were made in 1938. Brunswick, "an important railroad center on the B&O line, began to use its new dial service May 10," is stated in The C&P Story I Service in Action I Maryland, by Joseph H. Cromwell. Another new dial system went into use on August 16, 1948, when Mayor Stanley Virts made the first call. Joseph B. Payne, a Brunswick member of the Maryland legislature, Emory Frye, president of the Brunswick Rotary Club, and Richard Magalis, president of the Brunswick Lions Club, were present for the ceremony. In the 1950's, "state of the art" telephone equipment was installed in the 834 Exchange Building on Petersville Road, replacing operators and cord boards. Temperatur e and humidity control reduced maintenance problems. Nevertheless, it used to take one man about a week to make a round of preventive maintenance. In 1985, updating eliminated the need for a regular maintenanc e person. Everything went electronic at this time. Brunswick became a satellite of Frederick with electronic switching, using automatic computer control. In case of electric power failure, an auxiliary generator insures continued service. Local C&P managers included Pete Brengle, deceased, who lived in the stone "Michaels House" at 6th Avenue and "H" Street, where Koenigs have lived since moving to Brunswick in 1972. Clarence Stem, of Oakland, was next, followed by Robert Hemp, of Westminster. (His parents farmed the Eugene Hemp farm on Steiners Hill.) Don Myers was also a local manager. Men in that position could install and maintain phone service as well as do administrat ive-work. Local Petersville resident William Gladhill worked with Don Myers as installer-rep airman from January 1, 1956, to December 12, 1963, at which time he was transferred to Frederick in an administrat ive capacity. He returned to Brunswick as a central office technician in 1970, in which position he stayed until he retired in 1983. Don Myers was the last manager, serving here from January 1, 1956, to May 1, 1965. He now resides in Rocky Ridge. Brunswick had its own small business office until about 1960 at the entrance door of the exchange building on Petersville Road. People could pay their bills there to Imogene Thompson, or pay at