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Centralia, Mo. phone system before switching over to dial service

From the front page of the Centralia Fireside Guard of November 25, 1954:

The Missouri Telephone Company announces this week the inauguration of automatic dial service for its subscribers in Centralia and the surrounding rural area, effective November 30.

The change-over will take place at 10:00 p.m. next Tuesday. No longer will telephone users have to ring for an operator, and wait for her to answer. Dial phones will have replaced every crank type and common battery phone in the Centralia area.

This long-awaited improvement means that Centralia remains in the foreground as a progressive enterprising community. No community, even the largest city, can offer any better telephone service.

The conversion to automatic service represents an investment of about $300,000, including $97,000 for equipment located in the new $37,000 building on Rollins street, between the Baker building and the city hall.

The historic event will be celebrated with a dinner at the Centralia Country Club next Tuesday evening. Telephone company and city officials, after the dinner will go to the new building where they will watch the switch to dial service and the first official call under the new system. Mayor O. B. Wainscott will call F. Gano Chance, president of the A. B. Chance Company, who is to be in New York at the time. [Note: A. B. Chance established the first telephone system in Centralia.]

An open house is planned soon, so that the public may inspect the new equipment.

The tremendous and intricate job of installing the dial equipment was done by the Automatic Electric Sales Corporation, Chicago. For months crews have been working on the installation. Extensive work on rural lines began two years ago; party lines have been reduced to no more than eight phones on a line.

Before the change-over is made every one of the 1350 numbers will be called and the subscriber asked to dial back to be sure the phones are working properly. Most of this checking has been completed.

The installation of the latest type equipment makes possible Centralia's integration in the forthcoming national inter-city toll dialing system when it is put into effect. Calls from Centralia can then be placed to any point in the United States or Canada without the help of operators. [Note: This didn't happen until 1971.]

New telephone directories and instruction booklets have been issued, to familiarize subscribers with the dial system.

The Missouri Telephone Company is to be congratulated upon its contribution to the progress of Centralia and community. When the great majority of our citizens voiced their preference for a dial system, the company responded with the most modern facilities available. Next Tuesday will indeed be a historic day for Centralia, another step forward for a progressive community.