When Wilbraham First Spoke by Wire

When Alexander Graham Bell first transmitted the now-legendary words, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you,” in 1876, he set in motion a technological revolution that would reshape communities across the United States. In the years that followed, telephone lines slowly crept across the nation, linking cities, towns, and eventually rural villages. While major metropolitan areas adopted the telephone quickly, smaller communities often embraced the new invention with equal enthusiasm, and Wilbraham was no exception.

Alexander Graham Bell. Britannica

In fact, Wilbraham’s relationship with the telephone began remarkably early. Only four years after Bell invented his apparatus, the first private telephone line in Wilbraham was constructed in 1880. This early line connected North Wilbraham to Center Village, serving Dr. S. Foskit and Wesleyan Academy, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country. For a small New England town, this was nothing short of forward-thinking.

Collins Inn, note the telephone sign on the front porch. Wilbraham Library

Around 1884, Dr. H. G. Webber joined the circuit, helping to broaden the town’s early communication network.

The convenience of the new service came at a considerable cost. Subscribers initially paid about $30 per year, a sizable fee for families and small businesses of the era. Demand grew so quickly, however, that by 1886 the annual charge surged to $100. The steep increase proved too burdensome, and many subscribers backed away from the service. With the private line no longer sustainable, telephone communication in Wilbraham faded out entirely for more than a decade.

Wilbraham reentered the telephone age in early 1904 with the creation of a public exchange, officially designated as the North Wilbraham Exchange, located inside Collins Inn on Boston Road. The office, operated by Emma Collins Mowry on behalf of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, served twenty-one customers on a single-position, wall-mounted magneto switchboard. Mowry’s responsibilities went far beyond connecting calls: she accepted payments for both telephone and electric bills and played a key role in local emergency response. When a fire was reported, she contacted the Collins Paper Mill and instructed mill workers to sound the factory whistle, an early and essential alerting system.

The exchange grew steadily. By December 1909, seventy-six subscribers depended on the service, enough to require the installation of a village-style magneto switchboard in 1912. Two years later, in 1914, the agency moved across the road to the home of Mrs. Frederick Warren (born Lizzie Collins). Her house, long since gone, once stood at what is now 2788 Boston Road, the present site of the Nouria gas station and convenience store. The switchboard remained in that home for almost four decades.

By 1940, Wilbraham had more than 450 telephone customers. On December 4, 1948, the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company formally assumed control of the agency, appointing Mary Shea as Chief Operator. Demand continued to climb; by the end of 1949, the number of customers had reached 931.

Rapid growth soon made it clear that Wilbraham needed a modern, dedicated telephone facility. In 1951, the New England Company purchased land at 303 Main Street, and the new central office was completed the following year. With the opening of the building in 1952 came a major technological leap: the installation of dial equipment. On November 6, 1952, Wilbraham switched from operator-assisted calling to fully automated dialing, and the exchange was renamed LYric 6. Before the conversion, fourteen operators had been required to manage five switchboard positions and handle calls for roughly 1,200 subscribers.

Demand showed no signs of slowing. In August 1960, an addition was built onto the 303 Main Street office, and within a couple of years, the community had 2,385 subscribers operating a total of 3,395 telephones, a remarkable transformation from the town’s humble single-line beginnings in the 1880s.

Wilbraham’s early embrace of telephone technology reflects a broader pattern in the town’s history: a blend of Yankee practicality, intellectual curiosity fostered by Wesleyan Academy, and the forward-looking mindset of its residents. While Bell’s invention changed America, it was towns like Wilbraham, quietly stringing wires between farms, homes, offices, and schools, that truly built the nation’s first communication network.

Today, as we live in an age of instant messages and global connectivity, it’s easy to forget that Wilbraham once stood on the frontier of a technological revolution. Yet those early wires, stretched across the hills in 1880, carried more than just voices; they carried a spirit of progress that continues to define the town to this day.

F. A. Gurney's Store in the town center. Note the telephone signs on the front porch. Wilbraham Library