Text and Photos by Glenn Richmond
From our April 1972 issue
Every time the telephone rings in Bryant Pond, it’s a crank call. That doesn’t mean all the town’s 300 telephone subscribers are displeased with the service. It’s just that they share the unique distinction of being served by the last hand-crank telephone system in Maine — the Bryant Pond Telephone Company.
Elden and Barbara Hathaway, who have owned the business for the past 20 years, operate the switchboard from their living room. “We’ve brought up our family around this switchboard,” says Mrs. Hathaway. “Our daughters, Susan and Linda, learned to operate it, and our son Michael used to work on the lines.”
Robert McKeen, the Hathaways’ right-hand man, has worked for them 20 years and was with the company for five years before the Hathaways bought it in 1951 from Mr. and Mrs. G. Howard Judkins, also of Bryant Pond. Bob handles the switchboard, keeps books, and helps with emergency repairs. “He even babysat our children and is a very important part of our family,” says Elden Hathaway.
Small, informal, neighborly, the Hathaways’ telephone system links an entire community into a family unit, the whereabouts of whose members generally are known at the switchboard — a major help in time of crisis. When fire breaks out, the Hathaways keep a line open for emergency use, then furiously ring the volunteer firemen the fire chief wants summoned. The first wail of the siren always touches off a flurry of calls. Operators — called “Central” — simply respond by giving the location of the fire. They know from experience that’s all the customers want to know.
When someone needs a doctor, ambulance, or police, a crank of their wall-phone handle brings a reassuring voice on the switchboard. Often, if the caller is alone or in trouble, someone runs over to stay with the person until help arrives. Operators even accept and deliver messages for people who don’t have telephones.
“A lot of things have changed in the telephone business since those early days in 1951,” says Elden Hathaway. When he and his wife bought the company there were about 100 subscribers, very little equipment, and army field wire for telephone lines.
In the beginning, the Hathaways didn’t know the first thing about running a telephone company. What they wanted was a business of their own that would be exciting, challenging, and financially rewarding. With the help of the New England Telephone Company and Robert McKeen, they learned the art of wiring, tending switchboards, and repairing equipment.
Today, subscribers have almost tripled, cables have been installed, and new lines run throughout the exchange. Although the 20 or more private telephone companies in the state have converted to dial, the Hathaways continue to operate their hand-crank system. “I wish we could keep it that way,” says Mr. Hathaway. Unlike the dial telephone, each hand-crank or magneto-operated phone contains its own generator within the wall unit. A crank of the handle is needed to bring down a signal at the switchboard. Instead of a common battery at the central office, each telephone is equipped with two dry-cell batteries which provide the talking current. These batteries may be good anywhere from one to 10 years depending upon use and temperature. It’s usually the operator who notices a customer’s loss of voice volume and reports to the repairman: “Sounds like 31 needs batteries.”
Bryant Pond’s telephone link with the outside world is through the toll circuits which connect it to the New England Telephone Company’s long-distance switchboard in Norway, 17 miles away. Bryant Pond operators handle outgoing long-distance calls. However, on incoming calls, big-city operators quite often think someone is joking when they ask for a two-digit number in Bryant Pond, Maine. The magic words that prove it’s no prank are: “It’s a ring-down exchange.”
Customers who share the same line can phone each other without going through the switchboard simply by cranking the number of rings assigned to that party. For example, people on line 22 can ring 22-11 (spoken “22 ring 11”) simply by cranking one long and one short ring or, 22-13 with one long and three short rings. Of course, everybody on the same line hears and recognizes everyone else’s rings. And with intimacy bred of long sharing, they quite likely can speculate, “guess that’s Mary’s mother making her 10 o’clock call.”
The company tries to limit party lines to six and, at most, eight customers. About one third of these multi-party customers are residents of summer cottages who live there only a few months a year. Actually, about 50 percent of the company’s lines are private and subscribers hear only their own rings.
The switchboard is not tended between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m., but this does not mean service is discontinued. During those hours, the Hathaways turn on an alarm from the switchboard to their bedroom. When the phone rings, the alarm goes off and Elden or his wife gets out of bed and takes the call. To a certain extent, these late calls mean that Elden works pretty much around the clock. He is employed during the day as a foreman on the Canadian National Railroad and devotes nights and weekends to his telephone business. Two neighbors, Mrs. John Hathaway, a distant relative, and Mrs. Carroll Farnum, serve the company as part-time operators. Tom Thurston, a new member of the staff, assists in various aspects of the company’s operations.
The business required some skillful time-juggling by Mrs. Hathaway during the early years when she had to work in a little ironing, keep an eye on the kids, and still run the board. She continues to keep a long-hand record of each day’s toll calls and stitches the perforations on the mimeographed billing slips on her sewing machine.
Major telephone companies generally cannot compete with that special quality offered at Bryant Pond — personal service. Once Linda called around to help a woman find out how to boil a chicken for dinner. On another occasion, Elden found himself babysitting a babysitter who had called up terrified by a banging at the front door. Mr. Hathaway went over and stood by until the parents returned.
Some problems require more strenuous effort. During the severe winter of 1969, almost one third of the phones were out of order. The Hathaways still marvel that they managed to get all the lines back in working order that time.
Elden Hathaway is a man of many talents. With a big frame and a robust voice, he’s a natural for the role he plays every Christmas: he answers all those calls placed by children to Santa at the North Pole.
System Update
Elden and Barbara Hathaway operated the last hand-crank telephone system in the nation. In 1981, they sold the business to a direct-dial service, citing rising material and labor costs and a desire among many newer Bryant Pond residents for private phone lines. When the crank system was disconnected on October 11, 1983, nearly 200 villagers gathered at the Hathaways’ home to mark the occasion. “A lady came in here this morning and both of us almost cried a little bit,” Elden told the New York Times afterward. In 2008, a 14-foot-tall iron sculpture of a candlestick-style hand-crank phone was installed on North Main Street to commemorate the small company’s outsize impact.
