The Sulphur Telephone Exchange

By 1900 the telephone had become a familiar object in the cities and larger towns of America, but the small communities such as were to be found in Sulphur Township had not yet evolved any system of telephone service. Even so, the telephone at that time was a relatively simple device, not very expensive, and could be ordered from such mail-order firms as Sears Roebuck and Company. Consequently, a few people in Doddridge had telephone “boxes” which were connected by wires strung along fence posts or in trees for purposes of visiting and taking care of possible emergencies.

The Hemperleys, Slays, Atchisons, Pools, and Bigbys had phone boxes. However, people quickly discovered that there was a need to be able to switch back and forth to each other’s lines. Moreover, the community could see that it would be an unworkable situation for everybody to be on the same line. There was also a need for line maintenance, and for a telephone rental service. These were the circumstances when Colquitte Holt Bigby came upon the scene “Col” Bigby was born in Pickens County, Alabama, 27 March, 1874, to Benjamin Madison and Sarah Francis (Joyner) Bigby.

At some time after his father’s death in 1884, the family moved to Boyd, Arkansas, a small community about three miles south of Texarkana. Col’s older brother, William Thomas, had preceded the family by some time and owned a saloon in Texarkana. Col soon became quite proficient in carpentry and masonry, and earned his livelihood for a number of years in this capacity.

On 15 June, 1898, Colquitte Bigby and Sally Ann Bryant were married. She was the daughter of Thomas and lona (Field) Bryant. Following their marriage, they lived in Black Diamond where Bigby became postmaster in 1900 and remained there in that work until about 1904 or 1905. They then bought land at Doddridge and built a home there.

Since Bigby was a tinkerer by nature, he was fascinated by both the telephone and the telegraph. He had become an expert in telegraphy and belonged to a local club of men who enjoyed sending messages back and forth to each other as a hobby or pastime. Bill Slay, the depot agent, was also a member of this group.

Bigby soon noticed the need for people to be able to connect to and disconnect from their separate lines, and for telephone box rental service. His perception of these needs launched him into the telephone business, an activity in which he remained for the rest of his life except for one term as county tax assessor.

Bigby built more telephone lines, upgrading from the custom of stringing them along fences and in trees to the use of telephone poles. He also began to rent telephone boxes, and built a table-top switching device which served adequately for a time.

By use of the switching device everyone’s separate line could now be connected to any other separate line. For instance, if anyone on line “A” wished to talk to someone on line “B” , he simply called the switching operator and asked for that connection.

By around 1908 there came to be a need for a larger and more effective switching device. This need being a challenge, Bigby built a larger and more sophisticated contraption called a “switchboard.” Switches, plugs, cords, and jacks were the technical metal parts and therefore had to be purchased. These were mail-ordered from the Graybar Electric Company. Bigby completed the rest of the switchboard with his carpentry and wiring skills.

By today’s standards the contraption of course was relatively primitive; nevertheless, it served effectively for a number of years as the business grew. Finally, around 1915, a brand-new factory-made switchboard was purchased from the Western Electric Company. It was the latest state-of-the-art instrument and represented a milestone in efforts to bring efficient telephone service to Sulphur Township. By 1928 the exchange had grown from perhaps less than a dozen phones connected by wires on fence posts to over 150. Terminal points reached as far as Bright Star, Ft. Lynn, Canal (across Red River), Louisiana State line, Eiver Bend, and Capp City. There were direct connections with the Ida and Bloomburg exchanges, and with the rest of the world through the Bell Telephone System whose lines came through Doddridge along the railroad right-of-way.

Monthly telephone service, from the beginning to the 1920s, was $1.00 per month for residential phones and $1.50 for business phones. During the 1920s and ‘30s the fee was $1.50 for residential and $2.00 for business. Throughout most of the years long distance charges were 15 cents to Bloomburg, Fouke and Ida; 25 cents to Texarkana; 35 cents to Shreveport; 75 cents to Dallas. A call beyond the distance of Dallas was regarded as a big event and thus cause for much comment.

Nearly all residential phones were on “party” lines; that is, there were anywhere from two to four telephones on the same line. Consequently, when the operator called a particular residence, the calling had to be done by an assigned ringing signal.

For instance, let’s say Smith had an assigned signal which was one long ring and one short ring. Jones, on the other hand, had a signal which was two shorts and one long. The combinations of shorts and longs were more than enough for any given line. The system was universal in rural areas and quite efficient for the time.

As strange as it might seem at the present time [1992], it was not considered impolite or “nosey” to listen in on telephone conversations. People in the country were a lonely lot, and so they were eager to listen or even to join in on conversation if it seemed prudent to do so. On party lines this was a frequent occurrence, and housewives had wonderful group visits with one another. These visits were a welcome respite during the long and lonely days when nothing much ever happened beyond carrying out the usual chores of a farm’s existence.

When the 1929 financial crash came, along with the ensuing depression, the telephone business, like all other businesses, went crashing headlong. The basic cry was that there was no money; and there truly wasn’t. To remove a telephone from a good neighbor’s home simply because he had no money to pay phone rent was an agonizing prospect. Because the Bigbys had some farmland, a barn, and some cows, they consequently were in a position to accept corn, hay, dried black-eyed peas, home-made ribbon cane syrup, work on telephone lines and even plowing as payment for telephone bills. These conditions enabled many people to keep their phones throughout the depression. Thus, there were no losers.

After 1930, Doddridge, like the rest of small-town America, went into a state of gradual decline, from which it never recovered. The population, the telephone business and all other businesses dwindled through the years until Doddridge no longer resembled its former self. On 5 December 1949, Colquitte Bigby passed away, having reached the age of seventy-five.

The telephone service ceased to exist and thus came the end of an era. As a tribute to his efforts in establishing and maintaining a telephone system in Doddridge, the old handmade switchboard built by him around 1908 now stands in the Texarkana Museum.