Telephone Service First Established Here in 1897

Telephone Service First Established Here in 1897
Telephone service was originally established in Valley City in 1897 when O. A. Beeman, owner and operator of the first exchange, installed a switchboard with fifty telephones in an office upstairs in the Barkley Real Estate Building which was located where the Gamble Store was. The first paid telephone operator was Daisy McPherson. She was hired in the spring of 1897 and continued until 1899. Telephone number one had been used by the F. W. Heidel family since it was originally installed in Mr. Heidel hardware store, presently Ace Hardware Store.
In 1906 the North Dakota Independent Telephone Company purchased the Valley City system, and W. T. Craswell was manager. Shortly after, in 1913, the open iron wires replaced by cable. At that time there were 770 telephones in the system. A. J. McInnes succeed Mr. Craswell in 1922 and two years later Northwest Bell acquired the property.