New Owner, New Wires: Newport Telephone Service Gets an Upgrade
After selling the local telephone line to Mr. Anderson, Newport sees longer hours and a new central office planned for the Antler Hotel's former sample room.
As the result of the sale of the telephone line to Mr. Anderson, Newport is already enjoying better telephone service. Mr. Anderson does not get possession until the 15th, but has put on additional service, which keeps the central office open for business until 10 o'clock p.m. He has leased the former sample room of the Antler Hotel, which will be fitted up for a central office. The material for the new system is on the road from the east, and construction work will be started as soon as it arrives.
“Newport is already enjoying better telephone service.”
When a single buyer took over the local phone line, better service followed—an early lesson in how communications infrastructure shapes a small town's connection to the world. Newport's fight for reliable service echoes today's rural broadband debates.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.