“Its story began with a Doctor’s fervent desire to be available at all times to those in need of his services.”
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Evolution of the telephone from 1876 thru 1937 in a 1964 advertisement by Western Electric, the manufacturing unit of Bell Telephone
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The history of early telephone companies following Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 patent of the telephone is complex and includes numerous consolidations of several smaller independent telephone companies throughout New England including Maine. Among the larger of them was The Bell Telephone Company who were the first to operate in Maine in Portland in 1878 although the company was abandoned soon after by its local agent. On March 9, 1880, The National Bell Telephone Company of Maine was incorporated and began telephone service in Portland and Bangor that same year before becoming part of The New England Telephone & Telegraph Company in 1883.
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The New England Telephone & Telegraph Company would eventually establish telephone connections in Hartland, however several prominent businessmen in Hartland decided they weren’t going to wait for “Ma Bell” to reach out to the smaller communities to fulfill their immediate communication needs.
In May of 1882, a Pittsfield Advertiser article noted, “Hartland is soon to be connected by telephone with the telegraph in Pittsfield. The town has long felt a need for other means of communication than the mail.” It went on to note an (unnamed) association had been formed with capitol for the project sold in shares of $10 each. Officers for the association were listed as President, Greenville J. Shaw; Vice-President, Amasa J. Moor; Secretary, James O. Bradbury; Treasurer, Albert W. Miller; Board of Directors, Greenville J. Shaw, Amasa J. Moor, James O. Bradbury, Llewellyn Parks II, L. Lancaster, Archibald Linn & Dr. Harris H. Pushor.
Telephone Office & Post Office at Alden Sampson’s Drug Store Block – 1883
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The new telephone association’s project was completed by 1883 with their office located at the Drug Store Block, then operated by Alden Sampson, as seen above. The office is also seen in the edited photo below taken around 1886 of the Warren Square area revealing an unnamed “Telephone Office” sign located at the Drug Store Block, then owned by Albert W. Miller, and what appears to be a telephone switcher box connected underground to a single telephone pole in the center of Warren Square.
Commercial Street from Warren Square with Telephone Office & Telephone Switch – c1886
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The new telephone lines appear to have originally run along Pittsfield Avenue following the Lancey Stage Coach route from Pittsfield as noted in a November 4, 1886 newspaper article written after the opening of the new Sebasticook & Moosehead Railroad, “The ends of the Hartland telephone lines will be swung around to the railroad stations at this place (Pittsfield) and Hartland and telegraphic instruments attached to the wire.” By June of 1888, new poles had been installed along the railroad line route as part of a new dedicated railroad telegraph system. Other articles written at the time also noted Greenville J. Shaw as “President of the phone company in Hartland” confirming the Hartland Telephone Association existed at least into the late 1880s.
Dates and details of the association’s eventual demise have yet to be uncovered but The New England Telephone & Telegraph Company eventually established a connection to the former Hartland system. Meanwhile in St Albans, the future of Hartland’s telephone service was also unfolding. “Its story began with a Doctor’s fervent desire to be available at all times to those in need of his services.”
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Ina Mae Moulton shared some of the history of her father’s business in a May 15, 1953 newspaper article interview. Many details from the article have been transcribed and are complied below along with further research into the company including information from the 1981 History of St Albans book.
Dr. Charles Avery Moulton (1860-1946)
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Dr. Charles Avery Moulton was born in Concord, Maine on March 12, 1860. He attended Westbrook High School then graduated from Bowdoin Medical School in 1885. He practiced medicine for a year in North New Portland before moving to St Albans in 1886 where he continued his medical practice.
Feeling the need for better means of communication in the area he served, Dr. Moulton started the St Albans Telegraph Company in 1893 with local backing from John P. Baxter Jr, Napoleon Bonaparte Turner, David Dinsmore Stewart & A. T. Hurd who all served on the company’s Board of Directors. Initially, second-hand telegraph sets were used including a set installed at Dr. Moulton’s home which connected with the Hartland Railroad Station Depot serving as an emergency call signal whenever anyone in Hartland needed a doctor in an emergency. Soon after, the Company Board voted to give Stephen B. Prescott, then proprietor of the future St Albans General Store, 2.5 cents for taking and sending each message with a standard rate of 10 cents for the public to send a message to Hartland.
In 1894, Dr. Moulton decided the telephone, which had been around for about 18 years at the time, could be the most efficient means of communication to fit his and the surrounding village’s needs. On July 23, 1894, Dr. Moulton took over the St Albans Telegraph Company replacing telegraph sets with telephones and created the St Albans & Hartland Telephone Company. A telephone was kept at Prescott’s store for public use with the same 10 cent rate.
The new company got its official start when 12 telephones were installed tying Dr. Moulton into the communities of St. Albans and Hartland. The home office of the new company was located at Alfred P. Bigelow’s house in St Albans. Since all the phones were on the same line, no operators were required at the time. Some of the original subscribers in the first directory in St Albans were; Dr. Charles A. Moulton, S. B. Prescott and the St Albans Post Office. Those connected in Hartland were; Walter H. Moor, George M. Lancey, Thomas A. Linn, H. C. Prescott, Sebasticook & Moosehead Railroad Depot, Linn Woolen Mill Main Office and the Park House.
Alfred P. Bigelow House – St Albans
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All of the new subscribers to the St Albans & Hartland Telephone company were on one line with each having a special ring. The ring for Dr. Moulton’s own phone was two short bells. In the early years, the tiny phone directory carried the stern warning, “These telephone instruments are owned or rented by the St. Albans & Hartland Telephone Company. Listening is strictly forbidden unless you are called.”
Ina M. Moulton’s Blue Ribbon for the 1893 St Albans & Hartland Telephone Company Directory – 1953
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In 1897, Dr. Moulton moved to Hartland to be more centrally located to his numerous patients in the St Albans, Palmyra & Hartland areas while continuing his operations of the St Albans & Hartland Telephone Company. Dr. Moulton and his wife Abigail A. Lunt (1861-1940) with their oldest child Ina Mae Moulton (1891-1960) first moved into the former John J. Morrill homestead on Elm Street in 1897 while building their new home on the lot next door where they were living in 1900 just before the birth of their second child Arthur Lunt Moulton (1901-1985).
In February of 1900, The New England Telephone & Telegraph Company announced they were establishing a telephone connection in the spring to the Hartland system likely replacing the old Hartland Telephone Association. The New England Telephone Company, as they were more commonly known, placed a switchboard at George M. Lancey’s Store on Commercial Street where they operated an office location in Hartland for a few years.
G. M. Lancey’s Dry Goods & Groceries Store
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On July 17, 1903, Dr. Moulton changed the name and business location of his telephone company and incorporated as the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company with primary investors George M. Lancey, Alfred P. Bigelow, C. C. Hanson and 20 secondary stock holders including David Dinsmore Stewart who served as the company’s lawyer. The new company was located on the 2nd floor of Dr. Moulton’s Elm Street residence and would operate its lines independently for a short time with upwards of 140 subscribers. That same year, the original New England Telephone Company’s switchboard was transferred from G. M. Lancey’s Store to the new Elm Street location.
In December of 1904, The New England Telephone Company announced they had assigned a portion of their service territory to the newly reformed Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company as reported in the Pittsfield Advertiser article below.
Pittsfield Advertiser – December 29, 1904
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In December of 1906, a new magneto switchboard was installed at the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company’s office replacing the original New England Telephone Company’s unit which had been transferred to Elm Street from its location at G. M. Lancey’s Store in 1903.
Pittsfield Advertiser – December 13, 1904
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Hartland & St. Albans Telephone Company Directory & Advertisements – 1908
(Donated by Gerald & Pat Martin)
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Detailed Statement from Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company for Mark Perkins – March 31, 1925
(Photo courtesy of Dana Perkins)
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Following his move to Hartland, Dr. Moulton became a leading entrepreneur in the new era of telephone communication and electrical power distribution. He lived out the rest of his life in Hartland serving as a local family doctor, hospital administrator, businessman and an active member in town affairs until his death in 1946.
Dr. Moulton was also Founder, President and a Director of the Hartland Electric Light & Power Company which filed for incorporation on July 28, 1911 with several stock investors. Much of Hartland’s early electric power was generated by the Linn Woolen Mill before they connected a power line from Pittsfield to Hartland utilizing the existing telephone poles. They operated the power company for about a decade before selling to Central Maine Power in 1920.
Incorporation of Hartland Electric Light & Power Company – Lewiston Journal – August 2, 1911
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Among those working for the Hartland Electric Light & Power Company was Hartland resident Birney James Moore who was an Electrician for the company. Dr. Moulton purchased one of the earliest Model T’s seen in Hartland enabling Birney to travel easier while he worked in the area. This license plate was from the Model T which Birney drove. His wife Jean (Smith) Moore was an Operator at the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company and later his daughter-in-law Beulah (Frazier) Moore also worked there.
Birney James Moore’s Model T License Plate – 1915 (Photo courtesy of Birney F. Moore)
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Before the opening of a public hospital in Hartland, Dr. Moulton made regular house calls throughout the greater Hartland, St Albans & Palmyra area. Even Maine’s harsh winters could not stop the good doctor from making his rounds especially after he purchased a winter conversion kit for his Ford Model T first introduced by Virgil White in New Hampshire the early 1920s. The kit included a set of 5 foot runners replacing the front wheels and a secondary axle and traction belt for the rear wheels.
Hartland Historical Society Member Clyde D. Emery tells us he was one of the many babies delivered at home before the hospital opened by Dr. Moulton who arrived at his parents’ North Street home in his modified Model T in February of 1932.
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Although we do not have a photo of Dr. Moulton’s modified Model T, a similar restored model is displayed at Cole’s Transportation Museum.
Model T with Winter Conversion Kit (Photo courtesy of Cole’s Transportation Museum, Bangor)
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Dr. Moulton was instrumental in the creation of Scott-Webb Memorial Hospital serving as the Executor for the Estate of Eva Webb-Scott who willed her home and property to be used as a public hospital. He would oversee the conversion of the building and become the hospital’s first Administrator and Resident Physician when the hospital opened on October 12, 1932. When the new maternity ward was built, a number of people who had been delivered by him formed a group known as “Moulton’s Babies” and made a sizable contribution to the fund in his honor.
Scott-Webb Memorial Hospital
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In May of 1945, a heavy, wet snow loaded poles and wires of the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company to the breaking point and nearly ruined the business. There were just five poles still standing and 16 lines operating of the 135 lines total in service at the time. The storm also knocked out the power lines and when the power was restored, it knocked out 12 more telephone lines, leaving just four lines to service the two communities. For nearly another year, the telephone lines were temporarily operated with wires laying on the ground as poles were not immediately replaced. With the cooperation of local banks and the Public Utilities Commission, service was eventually restored.
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Following his death in 1946, Dr. Moulton’s 2 children oversaw management of the company for many years. Dr. Arthur L. Moulton D.D.S. served as President while his daughter Ina M. Moulton worked for her father her entire life serving as an Operator, Secretary and Treasurer until her retirement.
Obituary for Dr. Charles Avery Moulton
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Dr. Moulton’s contributions to Hartland and the surrounding communities are immeasurable by any standard. Along with his phone company, his 50+ year medical practice served Hartland, St Albans & Palmyra where he performed regular house calls to care for the sick, deliver children and make death pronunciations. He served as Administrator and Resident Physician at Scott-Webb Memorial Hospital, Hartland Town Selectman, Hartland School Physician, Hartland Academy Trustee, Hartland School Committee Member, Hartland Public Library Trustee, a 50 Year Member & Master of the Hartland Chapter of the Corinthian Lodge, Noble Grand of the Hartland Chapter of the I. O. O. F., and President of the Maine Medical Association as well as being a devoted husband and father. Dr. Moulton is interred at Pine Grove Cemetery with his wife and 2 children.
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The new switchboard installed in 1906 was operated by a magneto system and was located in Dr. Moulton’s Elm Street residence which had been expanded to become the company’s office. Connections to the telephone system were handled for several decades by Switch Board Operators until December of 1957. At the time of the conversion in 1957 to direct dial phones, the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company Switch Board Operators included Beulah Rowe, Jean Moore, Ina Hubbard, Mildred Gregoire, Murial Wade, Beulah Moore, Eleanor Hollister & Angelie Seekins.
Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company Switchboard – 1957
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On April 8, 1957 work officially began on a new direct dial telephone system to operate on the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company exchange. The rewiring of homes and the various line installations began with plans to complete the work in July with the switch over initially scheduled for that September. The new system included automatic cut-offs on party lines shutting off the connection after six to eight minutes with a one minute warning signal. A new building to house the direct dial system next door to the offices was also built at the time.
Direct Dial Conversion Article – April 8, 1957
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Although plans called for the changeover to direct dial were originally scheduled for September of 1957, an unknown delay held off the change until December 17, 1957 when General Manager Lloyd “Red” Hubbard ceremoniously “flipped the switch” for 503 Subscribers into a new era.
Direct Dial Conversion Article – December 18, 1957
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The Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company was purchased by TDS (Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.) in 1971, but continued doing business under the old company name for many years.
TDS Promotional Items (Donated by Marilyn Carr)
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Numerous local people worked for the Hartland & St Albans Telephone Company over the years including this listing of employees from 1981:
Carl Palmer – Manager | Geraldine Cole & Carolyn Wheeler – Customer Service Representatives | Donald Nichols – C.O.E. Technician
Dana Carr – Construction Foreman | Robert Giggey, Curtis Lombard & Harvey Martin – Installers, Repairmen & Linemen