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First Telephone | Cle Elum, WA
The first telephone service began in Cle Elum on April 5, 1901 with ten telephones.
The Cle Elum branch of the company was first located in Theron Stafford's General Mercantile store (the N.W.I. Company store building) with Mr. Theron Stafford as the first agent.
Stafford's Mercantile installed the first business phone, and city clerk Charles Connell had the first residential telephone.
The Sunset Telephone Company took over the business on April 14, 1902 and moved the office to the Cle Elum State Bank Building (currently Umpqua Bank) with Mrs. C.J. Clements (nee Maude Lindsay) was the Chief Operator.
In 1907 the Pacific States Telephone Company bought the business. The telephone office and personnel were moved into a newly constructed brick building at 221 East First on February 22, 1925.
On April 28, 1967, the Pacific Northwest Bell Company donated and dedicated the Cle Elum telephone building to the Cle Elum Historical Society for a permanent telephone museum.
(ANOTHER STORY, A Collection of Stories About the Early History of the Upper Kittitas County in Washington State, published 2013, Northern Kittitas County Historical Society, page 69.)
(Cle Elum telephone operators at the switchboard in 1959.)
The Cle Elum branch of the company was first located in Theron Stafford's General Mercantile store (the N.W.I. Company store building) with Mr. Theron Stafford as the first agent.
Stafford's Mercantile installed the first business phone, and city clerk Charles Connell had the first residential telephone.
The Sunset Telephone Company took over the business on April 14, 1902 and moved the office to the Cle Elum State Bank Building (currently Umpqua Bank) with Mrs. C.J. Clements (nee Maude Lindsay) was the Chief Operator.
In 1907 the Pacific States Telephone Company bought the business. The telephone office and personnel were moved into a newly constructed brick building at 221 East First on February 22, 1925.
On April 28, 1967, the Pacific Northwest Bell Company donated and dedicated the Cle Elum telephone building to the Cle Elum Historical Society for a permanent telephone museum.
(ANOTHER STORY, A Collection of Stories About the Early History of the Upper Kittitas County in Washington State, published 2013, Northern Kittitas County Historical Society, page 69.)
(Cle Elum telephone operators at the switchboard in 1959.)
