THE TELEPHONE WIRING AMERICA BUILDING AMERICA: THEN AND NOW The Alaska Highway The Brooklyn Bridge The Eisenhower Interstate System The Empire State Building The Hoover Dam The New York City Subway System New York City’s Central Park The Telephone: Wiring America BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 22 11//2200//0099 33::1177::2255 PPMM THE TELEPHONE WIRING AMERICA JOHN MURPHY The Telephone: Wiring America Copyright © 2009 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murphy, John, 1968– The telephone : wiring America / by John Murphy. p. cm. — (Building America : then and now) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60413-068-3 (hardcover) 1. Telephone—United States. 2. Telecommunication—United States. I. Title. HE8815.M87 2009 384.60973—dc22 2008025546 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can fi nd Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Text design by Annie O’Donnell Cover design by Ben Peterson Printed in the United States of America Bang NMSG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 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BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 44 11//2200//0099 33::1177::2277 PPMM CONTENTS INTRODUCTION A Worldwide Web 7 CHAPTER 1 The Dawn of Telecommunications 11 CHAPTER 2 Bell’s Harmonic Telegraph 17 CHAPTER 3 A Neck- and- Neck Race 25 CHAPTER 4 A Cloud of Suspicion 38 CHAPTER 5 Selling the Telephone 47 CHAPTER 6 Building a National Network 66 CHAPTER 7 A Nationwide Competition 79 CHAPTER 8 An Age of Innovation 96 CHAPTER 9 The Industry Transformed 109 Chronology and Timeline 120 Glossary 124 Bibliography 126 Further Resources 128 Picture Credits 129 Index 130 About the Author 136 BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 55 11//2200//0099 33::1177::2299 PPMM BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 66 11//2200//0099 33::1177::2299 PPMM I NTRODUCTION A Worldwide Web Lifeline of the lonely and lifeblood of the busy, [it] is taken for granted, and for good reason. . . . By bringing about a quantum leap in the speed and ease with which information moves from place to place, it has greatly accelerated the rate of scientifi c and technological change and growth in industry. Beyond doubt it has crippled if not killed the ancient art of letter writing. It has made living alone possible for persons with normal social impulses. . . . Certainly it has extended the scope of human con- fl icts, since it impartially disseminates the useful knowledge of scientists and the babble of bores, the affection of the affection- ate and the malice of the malicious. . . . [It] is our n erve-e nd to society. The preceding quotation sounds as if it were written just a mo- ment ago by a technology, media, or social critic at the dawn of the World Wide Web, at once afraid and in awe of Internet technology. In fact, these are not the words of a hand- wringing 7 BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 77 11//2200//0099 33::1177::3322 PPMM 8 THE TELEPHONE: WIRING AMERICA blogger. They were written more than 30 years ago by John Brooks, about a much earlier technological phenomenon that profoundly altered and reconceived our world every bit as much as the Internet has. Brooks was writing of an invention now viewed almost as a quaint relic of the analog age, yet one that revolutionized science, society, business, and technology. This invention made possible many of the modern world’s most stun- ning achievements, including radio, motion pictures, h igh-fi delity recording, television, cellular technology, and computer and In- ternet technology. Indeed, this seemingly humble but astoundingly powerful and transformative invention— and the far- reaching network it spawned— is still a crucial part of our daily lives, used by billions of people worldwide. It is the telephone, and it is impossible to imagine the technological and social achievements of the twenti- eth century without it, much less the innovations and capabilities we have taken with us into the new millennium. Long before there was the Interstate Highway System or the World Wide Web to connect the United States, the nation and its people were united by the common bond of telephone wires crisscrossing the country. Though we now take the humble land- line telephone for granted, its invention and subsequent develop- ment by telephone industry engineers made possible some of our most cherished tools and toys of today: radio, movies, television, satellites, microwaves, radar, computers, the Internet, digital transmission, MP3 players, and the great successor to Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone— the cell phone. In what it made obsolete, what it made possible, and how much of the world and its culture it transformed, the telephone ranks as one of the most important inventions in the history of human civilization. The telephone remade the world in an entirely new image, and our world today would be unrecogniz- able to us had the telephone not been invented. It is fi tting that it was fi rst introduced to Americans in 1876, on the one hundredth anniversary of the nation’s birth. This invention did more to unite BBAATTNN__TTeelleepphhoonnee__aallll__44pp..ee..iinndddd 88 11//2200//0099 33::1177::3344 PPMM A Worldwide Web  and liberate widely scattered, divided, and isolated Americans than any previous document, law, treaty, roadway, railway, inven-­ tion, or innovation could. People were now connected to one another by electrical wires that magically carried the tones of The telephone ushered in a new era of communication, com- merce, and social interaction. Without having to leave home or write a lengthy letter, people all over the United States could con- nect with faraway friends and family members. Referred to as one of the greatest inventions in history, the telephone soon became a fixture in the American home.