Pneumatic Cashier

[W. Gray]

I never got to see that side of it. Our town had 36,000 people at the time and I am sure there was a building or buildings somewhere with a lot of women pushing and pulling phone jacks to make connections.


There was a movie starring Sissy Spacek as a telephone operator and she was located in a small house in a small town. I cannot recall the name of the movie but the phone company owned the house and she and her small boy stayed there and she was the only operator 24-7.

People without a phone could come to her house and pay her and then use the "house phone" to make a call. On a long distance call she would watch the clock and then say "times up."

[frawin]

This thread brings back lots of memories. When I was a kid Gracie Wiseman and my sister Mary Myrna were the operators. My brother Neil had a Grocery store in Howard, when I was home and wanted to call the store I would pick up the phone and Gracie would say "Number Please", I would say Gracie I need the store and she would ring it. The store numbers were 51 and 52.  I think Gracie had memorized every number out of Howard. I seem to remember that Molly McGlasson and Effie Strachan were also operators, and maybe Eda Van Buskirk was the chief operator.
Our home number was 357, getting dial phones so you could dial your own number was a big deal.

Thanks Waldo for this thread.

[W. Gray]

Those operators were using high technology for the time.

Were those operators located on the southeast corner of Wabash and Adams?

[frawin]

Waldo, they were located where the Donut shop is now. On the alley behind Batson's drugstore now.

[patyrn]

Evelyn Hammer was also an operator.  They were located in the building on the alley, next door to the dentist office which is now the Donut Shop.   The location Waldo is talking about was built when dial service arrived in Howard, probably in the early to mid 60s.

[W. Gray]

I think I remember that.

It seems there might have been a large bell logo on the front of the building signifying Southwest Bell.

[larryJ]

I didn't know there were so many operators. 

I may have told this story on another thread, but I'm going to repeat it anyhow.

My father moved the family to Artesia, NM, because my mother had severe asthma.  That was in the late'30s.  My father passed away and my brothers who were older had gone off to college or the army.  We had the standard black phone that you picked up and waited for the operator.  Once you got the operator, you gave her the number you wanted, or told her you needed the long distance operator.  One time, my mother was really sick and it looked like she might have to go to the hospital.  I was quite young and there was no one around to take care of me.  So, mom said for me to go call Howard and tell them she needed some family to come out.  I picked up the phone and the operator came on and I asked for the long distance operator.  When she came on, I asked for Howard, KS.  She said what number in Howard would you like.  I didn't know numbers from nobody.  So I told her I just wanted to talk to Howard, Kansas.  She finally decided to connect me to the operator which happened to be my Aunt Bernadine Redmond Weyrauch.  I gave her mom's message and two days later, my grandmother and one of my Aunts came into town.  Back then I thought Aunt Bernadine was the only operator! 

In later years, when I was about 12, the phone company dug up our yard along the curb from the alley to the next street to install the dial system.  In the process, they built up a big pile of dirt on the corner of the lot and all of my friends would come over to play "king of the hill."  I kinda remember the phone company being in the middle of a block and it was a white building, but that's been a long time ago.

Larryj

[frawin]

Larry, I remember when Bernadine was and operator, sorry I left her off of my list. How could I forget her, she and John were really nice people. Bob dated my sister and Bob also worked in the Grocery store for my Brother. I spent a lot of time with Bill when I was a kid, I helped Bill build his Nutria pens when he got in the Nutria business. I remember when I was very little and I was home with my sisters on a Saturday night and someone was trying to window peek at our house. One of my sisters called the store and Bob and Bill came flying up outside and they went around the house in the dark, whoever was there must have taken off because we didn't see anyone again. Bob amd Bill were a formidable sight running around that house in the dark.

[W. Gray]

That would be the building they were talking about.

Speaking of construction piles of dirt along a roadway.

Remember when construction crews would put oil burning "pots" on top of the mounds of dirt to warn drivers of a hazard at night? I guess the workers doused them in the morning and re-lit them when they left for the day. Those things accomplished the same thing as the battery driven flasher lights today.

[Wilma]

I had forgotten those.  I remember seeing a few lit, but mostly we were out in daylight and would see them alongside of the road or on top of the pile.  I think I wondered at the time who lit them at night.