A Brief History of Telephone Service in Rideau Township
Early Days
On the evening of October 9, 1876, on the premises of the Walworth Manufacturing Company in Boston, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson conducted the first conversation ever carried on by word of mouth over an existing telegraph wire. The line extended from the company’s head office in Boston for about two miles to their factory in Cambridgeport. (The distinction between this call and Alexander Graham Bell's very first voice transmission on March 10, 1876 being the distance, and the use of an existing telegraph wire.)
Less than a year later, in August, 1877, Melville Bell, son of Alexander arrived in Ottawa to connect a telephone line between Rideau Hall and the Dominion Premier’s office. There was also mention of an intention to put a telephone in “some country telegraph office several miles from the city, connecting it with one in the Russell House,” although no specific location is mentioned, and we cannot confirm it actually happened.
A month after the Rideau Hall installation, the telephone was demonstrated at the Ottawa Agriculture Grounds, after which the following newspaper report assessing the new “instrument” appeared.
At both demonstrations, the device used would likely have been similar to the ones below.
In the early days of telephone service in Ottawa (and elsewhere), two companies, the Dominion Telegraph Company and the Montreal Telegraph Company competed for customers. (The first Dominion Telegraph Ottawa Directory listed less than 80 subscribers.[i]) This rivalry didn’t last long, as by the end of 1880 the newly established Bell Telephone Company had purchased both companies.
Bringing Telephone Service to Rural Areas
Almost from the moment the telephone came to Ottawa in 1877, the rural villages surrounding the city naturally wished to be connected. As it turns out, achieving this goal was a long, arduous, complicated, and ultimately political process.
As the 1893 article below indicates, even though the Bell Telephone Company achieved dominance in Ottawa through the purchase and amalgamation of existing competitors, it was not the only player in the telephone game in eastern Ontario.
The North American Telegraph Company (NAT), formed by the Rathbun Company of Deseronto, Ontario was started for the express purpose of establishing telegraph and telephone communications with Ottawa, including branch lines with smaller communities such as Kemptville, North Gower, Merrickville, Richmond and others.
North Gower’s First Telephone
By August of 1893 NAT’s construction teams were at the southern edge of the city and creating lots of controversy as they continued to erect poles and lines without formal approval of City Council. Matters were ultimately resolved in June 1894, allowing NAT to build into Ottawa, and opening the potential for rural telephone service. Shortly thereafter NAT opened an office in North Gower in the home of J. Kerr, and installed a telephone which, until 1902 was the only one in North Gower Village.
In 1910 the Bell Telephone Company purchased the North American Telegraph & Telephone Company, by which time the North Gower exchange was serving users in Kars, Manotick and Osgoode Station. In 1911 the 100th telephone was installed in North Gower Village, and 24 hour service was introduced. By 1919 that number would be 400.
The North Gower Rural Telephone Company
While the Bell system was expanding rural telephone service, particularly for long distance calling, a new company, the North Gower Rural Telephone Company was formed in 1910 to improve local calling access across the townships of North Gower and Marlborough, and parts Nepean and Osgoode, including the villages of Manotick and Wellington (Kars.) Elected officers of the new company were President: Dr. H.G. Blair; Vice President: J.F. Wurtele; Secretary-Treasurer: J.A. Craig. Directors were Rev. J.H. Woodside, George Beaman, H.E. Moffatt, W.J. Graham and George R. Bradley.
By October of 1910 the communities of Carsonby, Pierce’s Corners, Reeve Craig and Kars had telephones.
Epilogue
Up until 1961, North Gower’s telephone system was operator-assisted, and consisted almost exclusively of party lines. Telephone operators were replace by dial telephones in this area in 1961.
