Utilities - Page One

What company had or did not have a franchise to furnish telephone service in Alderson in the early days is a puzzle. Town Council granted so many franchises that once it did not know which companies were running telephone lines.

According to available Town Council minutes, the first franchise was granted to Greenbrier Telephone Company, Lewisburg, March 3, 1899. American Telephone and Telegraph Company was granted a non-exclusive franchise on April 3, 1901. On May 2, 1904, Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was granted a 50 year franchise. Both American and Southern Bell were the lines on the railroad and offered no local service except telegraph or long distance. There must have been other such companies franchised before 1901 but the first minute book of Town Council is lost.

T. A. McNeer, president of Greenville Telephone Company, Inc. applied for a franchise September 11, 1903. The company was "doing a general telephone business in Monroe and Summers County." No action was taken on a franchise.

Town Council granted Greenbrier Mutual Telephone Company permission to enter town on August 7, 1908; Green Sulphur Mutual Telephone Company, November 5, 1909 and Meadow Bluff Mutual Company on January 7, 1910. By then Town Council was confused.

Mrs. Merritt Lowry (Nell Kittinger) was the first telephone operator in Alderson and started working in 1899 or 1900. She distinctly remembers the first office in the First National Bank Building. The hours were 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and there was no night service. Long cords were attached to the plugs. To ring a telephone a battery powered hand crank was used. The office was moved to Mr. Woodson’s home where Quillen Supplies located. Myrtle Woodson became an operator. The company then closed the office. Mrs. Lowry does not remember the telephone company’s name. It must have been the Greenbrier Telephone Company as it was the first granted a franchise - March 3, 1899.

The Council minutes show Meadow Bluff Telephone Company was building lines in Alderson in February, 1913.

According to Mrs. Mason Bell of Lewisburg, Limestone Telephone Company of Lewisburg was chartered May 10, 1907. This company operated in at least ten communities. In 1909 the records of the company show it bought Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company property in Alderson. Many small country lines through farming communities mutually owned by those they served, continued to operate until recent years in various sections. Some of these rural companies continued to operate into Alderson and were equipped to switch to Limestone Telephone Company lines. In fact, some subscribers had two telephones, one for each Company. Many sub- scribers owned their own telephones. Limestone Telephone Company expanded in Alderson and probably bought several of the small mutually owned lines. Their rates were about $1.50 per month for a residence, $2.00 for a business and if the subscriber owned the telephone the rate was lower. Limestone Telephone Company operated in Alderson until 1927 when Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company bought it.

When Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company started in 1927 there were about 120 "stations." Mr. Millard Perdue, Lewisburg, now retired, was the first manager for C. & P.

Alderson residents remember the Vaughan sisters, Lillian and Margie, who for many years were operators.

In 1939, with about 300 subscribers, the dial system came to Alderson and the day of the operators passed. Automation killed the job except for long distance. In January, 1964, Chesapeake and Potomac had 791 "stations” with an Alderson address.

In 1901 Alderson heard the first applicant for a franchise to provide electricity to the town. On August 22, 1901, Alderson Light, Water and Ice Company was given a 50-year franchise to run light and water lines in the corporate limits. It was not an exclusive franchise. The company evidently was owned by C. K. Thompson, C. H.  Robbins and Dr. W. C. Beard. The franchise was not exercised.

On September 1, 1902, a franchise was granted Greenbrier Milling Company to manufacture electricity, run lines, erect poles and sell to public and private customers. The town agreed to have the company install not less than thirty street lights at $12 per year each. The franchise was for fifteen years and was signed by G. K. Gwinn, president of the company and Palmer Shanklin, Mayor.

The first light bill, $30, for the town street lights was paid January 5, 1903, for the month of December, 1902.

The first private home furnished with electricity was that of L. E. Johnson. Greenbrier Milling Company continued to furnish electricity on a limited basis to a few customers on the Monroe side. It did not supply the customer demand. On August 5, 1910, Town Council granted a franchise to A. J. Jones to operate an electric plant and lines. He did not exercise his franchise. Mr. Jones planned a hydro-electric development from Ballengee’s Mill on Muddy Creek to Palestine, carrying water by either a large conduit or race, and running a large water turbine by drop of the water of 58 feet. This was an expensive project requiring sums of money A. J. Jones failed to raise. (Ref: Conversation with J. Herbert Jones, 4-4-64.)

On April 11, 1913, J. E. Shields submitted a contract for a franchise to Alderson Light and Power Company. A J. Jones objected and the contract was not granted. The company re-applied for a franchise on August 1, 1913 and on August 8, 1913, a 40-year franchise was granted, signed by G. K. Gwinn, president. There was much op- position to the granting of this franchise and a petition by prominent citizens was filed with Council. The Council finally, by a vote of 4 to 3, granted a franchise to Alderson Light and Power Company with reservations as to rates to be charged and the duty of the company to fulfill all agreements.

Shortly thereafter, September 12, 1913, A. J. Jones asked that his franchise of August 5, 1910 be renewed. Council asked for formal application which Mr. Jones furnished and on November 14, 1913 he was granted a franchise for 40 years, which was signed December 12, 1913.

On the same date, December 12, 1913, the Virginia-Western Power Co. wrote Council about furnishing power, signed by A. C. Ford, secretary-treasurer, Clifton Forge, Virginia. The matter of giving Virginia-Western a street-lighting "contract" was discussed by Council February 27, 1914. Apparently, from the records, they had no franchise but had acquired Greenbrier Milling Company’s electric plant. The first bill for street-lights by Virginia-Western Power Company was paid February 20, 1914. This record is confusing as it seems four firms and individuals had franchises at one time. (Ref: Town Council minutes.)
Page Two:

The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008