Telephone directory 1904

Archive

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Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

Telephone directory 1904

Entry/Object ID

2024.11.01

Scope and Content

Digital scans of an 18-page directory for the Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Company Limited, issued July 1, 1904 for exchanges at Saugatuck, Douglas, Ganges, Fennville and Glenn. The listings include the number (usually just two digits), name and profession of each subscriber; no street address. Most of the listings are for fruit farms or fruit growers and merchants. Only a very few residences had telephone lines at this time.

Context

The Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Company Ltd (Allegan County, Michigan) was started by a few fruit growers combining with local steamboat men for the erection of lines reaching into the fruit sections from shipping points. “It is often said that necessity was the mother of invention. Henry Hudson Hutchins didn’t invent the telephone, but he certainly recognized the necessity of it. Bringing the telephone to the Ganges area began with the fruit growers. There were four shipping points where their fruit could be taken to get it to the market; they could either go to the boats that came into Glenn, Plummerville or Pier Cove or to the train in Fennville. Often times they would get to the pier only to discover that because of choppy water the boats could not land. Or, they would take their fruit to Fennville to send it in by train and find that the train had already gone, and by then it was to late to get to the piers. Some system of communication was needed to correct the problem.”—quote by Jeanne Hallgren in her book “Ganges Township Allegan County, Michigan …History, Legends and Memories” page 75 … one of three pages devoted to the telephone company. Published in 2012, her book is a valuable historical record of Ganges Township, Allegan County, Michigan. Henry Hudson Hutchins was instigator and longtime manager of the Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Company …said to be the first cooperative telephone company in the nation. In her book, Jeanne Hallgren mentions that the phone was a life-changing experience …“For the first time there could be contact with other people without leaving their homes.” Source: From David Nye, posted on facebook Saugatuck/Douglas Informed, Feb. 23, 2024

Collection

Utilities and public infrastructure, 1870 Fruit growing, farming, agriculture

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2024.11

Acquisition Method

Donation, unconditional

Location

* Untyped Location

Digital data in CatalogIt

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Bird, Harry Moffat 1877-1914, Bird, Charles Edmund Sr. 1855-1941, Rogers & Bird Shipyard/Line, Brittain, Ralph Case 1842-1905, Billington, F., Comstock, C.G., Hauke, Otis, Commercial Record newspaper, The, Davis, James F., Dick, John Washington 1851-1934, Doud, Judson 1835-1921, Erler, Albert, Presbyterian Camp/Camp Gray/Forward Movement Park 1899-2014, Mize Rose Garden north side/Fruit Growers State Bank/Clapp's Grocery/Flint's Shoes/Walz Meat Market/Griffin/Tanner, Gibson, Alexander Capt. 1855-1923, Goshorn, George Washington 1868-1934, Griffin & Henry Lumber Yard/Griffin & Henry Sawmill/Griffin & Williams/Stockbridge & Johnson/Wells & Johnson/M.B. Spencer Mill, Gray, Thomas 1820-1895, 40 Butler/Hotel Butler/Grist Mill/Haymarket, House, Edwin Harvey 1875-1958, Koning, John 1858-1927, Leland, Thornton W. 1850-1930, 119-121 Butler/Leland's Department Store Building 1907, Davis Livery/Heath & Stillson livery/Schaberg’s Roller Rink, 428 Butler/Maplewood Hotel b.1860/facade 1923, Miller, Herman Lester 1856-1912, Pear, Dr. John Henry 1864-1926, Pride, Edward S. 1848-1912, Interurban Railroad 1899-1927, Red Cross Drug Store, Reed, Samuel Caleb 1848-1923, Reed, Roger E. 1868-1946, Robinson, Miller 1859-1940, Kasten/House's Cherry Cider Co. at Riverside Fruit Farm, Schaberg, John 1849-1916, Stimson, Dr. Henry H. 1824-1916, Sutton, Warner Perrin 1849-1913, Walker, Dr. Robert J.1869-1944, Walz, Frederick J. “Fritz” 1880-1945, Walz, Christian "Chris" 1854-1921, Beachmont Resort, McVea, William C. I 1860-1923, Bryan, Willis Simon 1888-1972, Brandt, Charles F.H. 1839-1916, H.A. McDonald Central Store, Douglas (not McDonald's People's Store), Chase, James Waistill 1846-1923, Dawson, Alice May (Purdy) 1862-1946, Drought, William 1861-1924, Flagg, John Lawrence 1836-1922, Gerber, Daniel Milton 1862-1929, Gray, Thomas Collins 1853-1920, Hedgerow Villa, Trumble, Mrs. E., Kirby, Sarah M. (Gill) 1861-1951, Kurz, George Everhart 1872-1958, Elkhorn Lodge, McDonald, Louis Winfred, Mead, Henry Eugene 1851-1926, Phelps, Lafayette Alonzo 1856-1940, Purdy, Philetus "Fleet" 1835-1922, Raplee, Elmon Lafayette 1862-1934, Reed, Robert Captain, Richards, John Shelden 1828-1915, Stroud, Harley A. Dr. 1848-1915, Tillinghast, Clark 1872-1944, Van Valkenburg, Charles Finley 1855-1938, Walz, George William 1845-1924, Wallin, Van Arthur 1866-1942, Welch, Charles Bossard 1854-1924, Welch, Horace G. 1856-1932, Weed, William H. "Will" 1866-1909, Wm. Weed & Co. Basket Factory, Weed, Perry Parton 1858-1941, Wiley, David W. 1837-1927, Atwater, Edwin Hollis 1856-1927, Bennett, Marcius Stanton 1852-1932, Bowles, Henry John 1836-1922, Brunson, Dr. Eugene Eliel 1851-1934, Collins, Ward E. 1871-1960, Darling, Martin J. 1839-1909, Dean, George Dallas 1845-1914, Dunn, William Haile 1844-1934, Eddy, Scott Wilmoth 1843-1930, Ensfield, Henry H. 1863-1939, Ensfield, Christopher 1853-1919, Fisher, Guyon 1854-1921, Fry, George W. 1852-1919, Goodwin, John 1846-1925, Goodeve, Llewellyn B. 1842-1909, Haberer, Andrew 1850-1936, Hirner, John Lewis [Sr.] 1861-1957, Howland, Sarah Jane (Chase) 1833-1911, Howland, Arthur David 1859-1947, Hoover, William Henry Sr. 1846-1919, Hull, William E. 1857-1935, Hutchins, Henry Hudson 1854-1933, Hutchins, Edward 1852-1929, Keirnan, Thomas W. 1878-1949, Loveridge, Seth W. 1824-1906, Long View Lodge, Lake View Rest, McVea, Charles E. 1835-1894, McGee, John 1833-1906, Tracy, Alva H. 1842-1926, Plummer, William Henry 1841-1924, Old State Bank Fennville, Leggett, Charles W. 1849-1916, Kendall, J.C.

General Notes

Note

Comment from Cathy Brockington: [via facebook] In their youthful days, my Grandmother Irene Robinson (Webster) and her sister Abbie, among other fine (single) women of the community, were telephone operators. The exchange was in the front room above LandSharks. They had a good job and in the summers when the folks came over from Chicago, they had good social times too. ( taffy pulls, etc). This was probably in the late teens or early twenties. Grandma was born in 1900. Miss Jesse Viets was the third woman I remember who was an operator in the later days— 1917-20?

Create Date

March 15, 2024

Update Date

April 19, 2024