McHenry Gets The Telephone!

The invention of the telephone transformed the world for our ancestors. One could hear the voices of people who were miles away but were now reachable by using this wondrous device. Most people today think of a phone for its conversations and convenience. However, phones also became essential in summoning help for injuries or other emergencies. Unlike today, most phone companies were rather small. In some areas, local businessmen might be willing to set up their own phone companies if they felt existing companies were charging too much. Most of the larger companies such as the American Bell Telephone Company, tended to initially stay in more urban areas. The first phone company to come to McHenry County was a company named the Chicago Telephone Company.

In most rural areas, like McHenry County, when phone lines were established, they were done so in a town. Companies would go to a town and see if there was enough interest to set up a station. Once things would get up and running in the town, the lines were run out to other areas. Telephones came into McHenry County in 1883 or 1886. There is some debate as to when the first phones were established as they don’t appear in the Chicago directory. The Chicago directory had lists of locations that had phone service including those in what became known as the Chicagoland Area. Woodstock, Harvard, and Marengo were the first towns in the county to get phone service. Initially, the cost to make a call was 30 cents for five minutes.  

The city of McHenry didn’t get phone service until 1897. Like the other towns in the county, McHenry initially did business with the Chicago Telephone Company. The first station was set up in the store of Owen and Chappell, which was located on Green Street in June 1897. About a month later, another station was established on the lower level of Simon Stoffel’s Hotel. The hotel sat on the northeast corner of Main and Front Street. Two weeks after that, McHenry had lines running to the Green Street location and the Stoffel Hotel. By the end of July, lines were set up connecting McHenry with the outside world. By the end of the decade, there were often phone listings for customers of both companies printed in the McHenry Plaindealer. 

Two years later another company came into the picture. The Citizen’s Telephone Company was formed by a group of local, influential farmers. The company covered every large town in McHenry County, as well as some of the surrounding counties. These rural users saw themselves as secondary customers to the Chicago Telephone Company. Many probably saw a rather profitable business opportunity. Things did go well for both phone companies as the market for telephone service went up steadily in the first few years of the twentieth century. In 1905, the Citizen’s Company sold most of its shares to a new farmer-owned company, called the New Era Telephone Company. Around the same time, the Chicago Telephone Company was bought out by American Bell, although for years afterward, it still went by its original name. 

Sources

• “An Ordinance” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 28 Apr 1897, 5. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “The Chicago Telephone Company Have Just Put…” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 30 Jun 1897, 5. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “The Chicago Telephone Company Sent…” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 14 Jul 1897, 5. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “The Chicago Telephone Company” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 24 Aug 1898, 5. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “County Telephone Service” The Woodstock Sentinel. (Woodstock, IL) 8 Jun 1899, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “To Improve Its Service.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 31 Aug 1899, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.
• “The Citizens Telephone Co.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 30 Nov 1899, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Mar 2024.