CROWN POINT TELEPHONE - Key Persons

William R. Wallace bought the company in 1929, just before the depression. The magneto system relied on operators for long distance calls as well as local calls to people on different lines. Many times the operator on duty located Dr Miller for an emergency call while he was at some else's house. His office telephone number was 36. The operators also found the veterinarian, Dr Pierce,(office telephone number 114) and local firemen during a crisis. The telephone operators also rang the siren for fire calls until a fireman arrived at the fire house to take over. Each house had to have a set of batteries which were usually in the basement or on the floor beside the telephone set. Believe it or not we are still finding these sturdy batteries in old houses after 42 years of disuse. Mr Wallace and his wife Leora continued to expand the radius of the service until he sold it in 1954. At that time Herbert O. and Dorothy S. Lewis bought the enterprise.