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Picture: Oka Swift – Early Telephone Operator. Switchboard still in use when system changed to dial.

THE TELEPHONE

       Stanwood’s first telephone system came into being about 1902, privately owned by Homer E. Hart. Since he was also the proprietor of the hardware store at that time, he had the telephone switchboard in the back part of his store. Mr. Hart was overseer of the entire operation at first. His own number was 1, Ed Maley’s 2, Ez Dodson’s 3, William Hart’s 4, and Doctor Baker’s 5. The first operator was Mrs. Lou Jackson. The lineman was Milton Rice, succeeded by Ed Paist.

       Mr. Hart sold the line to the Davenport and Tipton Exchange, later known as Iowa State. The telephone office was moved to a building located next to what is now Jack Hanks’ Feed Store. Lena Somes was one of the early operators, followed by Oka Swift. Hollis Wilson started working as operator in 1917, serving during the day while Omelia Fey worked at night. Hollis Wilson served as an operator a total of 27 years. Before 1920 the office was moved to a building near the Wilkins elevator. This small brick building now stands empty.

       In July 1921 Mrs. Florence Long took Miss Fey’s place, first as a supply operator and then a few months later on the full time basis. In 1944 the switchboard, still the original one, was moved to Mrs. Long’s home. Thus she continued to serve as long as an operator was needed, in all a period of 35 years.

       The dial system was installed in 1956, a symbol of a new era in communication.

       The following appeared in the Telephone Magazine of March 1932: “A telephone message at noon February 2 said that a lone bandit came into the Union Trust and Savings Bank at Stanwood, and ordered the bank officers into a vault, and escaped with $600.00. The bandit thought he had the officers locked in the vault, but soon after they came out. At once C. H. Haesemeyer, cashier, got busy and notified Miss Wilson, the operator for Iowa State Telephone Company, who spread the alarm to Tipton, Lowden, Lisbon, and Bennett. They notified the sheriff and vigilantes in their districts who immediately took steps to stop the bandit should he come their way. The bandit went west in his Model T Ford, where he was met by his companion in a Model A Ford sedan, in which they headed east. The Lowden vigilantes sent four men to an advance position with a safety man every so often between them and the town limits, so that if the bandit came east and escaped the first man another would be ready for him. They had taken a Ford truck to a point a mile west of town where both sides of the Lincoln highway are flanked with guard rails, making it impossible for the robber to get out of their path. No sooner had they set their trap when the Model A Ford bearing the New Mexico license plates approached from the west at a high rate of speed. Suspecting that a trap had been set for them, the one bandit stepped out on the running board of his car and opened fire on the vigilantes. His first bullet struck Marshall L. Pauls in the leg. The Vigilantes then took the signal and opened fire with a sawed off automatic shot gun, putting numerous holes through the glass and sides of the bandit car. The bandit who had pillaged the bank was killed by the gunfire, while the driver of the car was wounded in the shoulder and arm. The cash was found in the bandit’s shirt.

        “Due to the quick work and thinking of the operators, the bandits were in custody just thirty minutes after the hold-up occurred.”