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Magazine Arkansas Telephone Company |
This is our
heritage:
In the summer of 1939,
Henry Stone, traveling from Oklahoma, arrived in Magazine, Arkansas. He was
here to remove the switchboard, poles, and wire that made up the Magazine Telephone
Company. At that time there were 10 telephones and 2 pay stations operating in
Magazine. A magneto switchboard served the customers.
Henry Stone, seeing the
small town of Magazine clustered at the foot of Magazine Mountain along the
banks of the Petit Jean River, fell in love with the area. When he returned to
Oklahoma, he and Anna decided to buy the little telephone company. On August
15, Anna, Henry and their son and daughter, Doris Jane and Henry Donald, moved
to Magazine. A tradition of telephone service commenced and has continued for
sixty years. In 1999 we commemorated our Diamond Jubilee Year.
In 1940, the Stones
purchased the property at 40 South Wood Street, built a home and moved the
magneto switch into the new home.
Also in 1940, the company
that contracted to build the Blue Mountain Dam contacted the Telephone Company.
The builders asked Henry if he would build a telephone line to the dam site.
Henry hired two local men, Autry Sloan and Dick Roberts, to cut down cedar
trees, dig holes, and set poles out to the dam. Henry strung two circuits of
wire on the poles. One circuit was to serve the dam. The other circuit was to
serve Blue Mountain and Waveland. The Blue Mountain - Waveland circuit served
20 subscribers and started the growth of service to those areas.
December 7, 1941 marked
several changes in the Stone household. With the outbreak of WW II, the Stones
were frequent hosts of spouses and families of service men and women. People
would be in the home at all times of the day and night; anxiously trying to
have calls completed to loved ones around the world. During the night, Henry
would pull their bed up close to the switchboard so that Anna could answer
calls without getting out of bed.
After the end of WW II,
the R.E.A. System was introduced to the area. This electrification project
induced noise into the one wire magneto system that was currently in use by the
Telephone Company. Henry converted the magneto system to a new system called
common battery. Instead of just one wire, common battery required two metallic
wires for each circuit.
With the electrification
of the area, people also wanted telephone service so they could call in feed
orders, talk to the vet, and visit with neighbors. Magazine Telephone Company started
a program to extend telephone lines to the rural areas of Reville Valley, Sugar
Grove, and other areas adjacent to Magazine.
1952 marked the
installation of a dial system called Terminal Per Line in Magazine. This system
accommodated 100 subscribers and served the area for the next decade.
In 1962, with the
expansion of the rural area service, the 100-line office was too small. A new
system (Terminal Per Station) was installed in a newly constructed building,
just behind the central office building. The new system had features that
allowed customers to keep their telephone numbers as they moved to different
homes. Also, when the phone rang, the call was actually for the resident at
that phone. No more coded rings. At that time, the old central office was
remodeled and the business office was moved out of the Stones' home.
Henry died in 1963. Anna
and Henry Jr. (Sonny) assumed the responsibility for the 176-subscriber
Telephone Company.
Sonny, in 1966, determined
that the customers needed to be able to call South Logan County without
additional charges. Southwestern Bell and Western Arkansas Telephone Companies
wanted to discontinue long distance service from Fort Smith and serve long
distance out of Russelville. They had to have Magazine Telephone Company's
permission to do so. Using that need as a bargaining chip, Sonny persuaded
Western Arkansas Telephone Company to install E.A.S service between Magazine
and Booneville.
Seeing the need for
additional capacity and better service levels, in 1972 the company decided to
build a new office in Blue Mountain. Subscribers in Magazine and Blue Mountain
were converted to private line (one party) service and the rural; subscribers
were upgraded to four party line services.
During 1983 Bill Jones,
Doris Stone Jones husband, retired from Civil Service at the Missile Center in
Huntsville, Alabama. The Jones moved to Magazine and Doris became the Company
Office Manager, assisting Anna in the business office. Doris held this position
for the next 10 years.
Doris' family was very
active in the family business. Billy Don, her eldest, worked in the business
office for several years. Doris' daughter Debbie and her husband Rodney were
employed in the business, as was Jeral, Doris' youngest son.
Magazine Telephone Company
started converting the outside plant to one party service allowing rural
residents to obtain one party line service, The project, occurring in 1986,
consisted of placing 90% of the outside cable under ground.
Anna Stone was forced to
retire in 1989, a victim of poor health. Sonny purchased her home and remodeled
it before moving his large family to Magazine Anna lived out her years in this
home, frequently watching the comings and goings of the family and of
customers. Anna died in 1992, leaving the company to Sonny and Doris. In 1994,
Sonny bought Doris' share, allowing Doris a chance to retire.
During 1991, a trailer
that housed an entire digital office switch was temporarily placed behind the
central office. This switch carried subscriber service. During this period of
time, the old telephone system was converted to digital service. The old
central office equipment was removed and the office was remodeled,
Fiber optic cable was
installed between the Magazine exchange and the Blue Mountain exchange. At the
same time, fiber optic cable was installed from the Blue Mountain Central
Office to the new central office located in Waveland. Exchange fiber was
extended from the Magazine exchange to the adjoining boundary with GTE and
provided for toll service.
In 1992, Magazine
Telephone Company transferred to the new digital central office that was
installed in the newly remodeled central office. Blue Mountain's exchange was
also converted to digital. Later in the same year, the circuits between
Magazine and the Blue Mountain office were placed on the new fiber optic cable.
Continuing the
modernization, a digital central office was placed in service at Waveland.
The GTE toll circuits were
placed on fiber optic cable from Magazine to Russelville. This occurred in 1993
and distinguished Magazine Telephone company as one of the first telephone
companies in Arkansas to have an all digital optic fiber network
In 1988 Magazine
Telephone, along with other telephone companies, formed a limited partnership
with Alltel Cellular to serve the areas of Arkansas with cellular telephones.
Magazine Telephone now has cellular service from Memphis through Jonesboro to
Little Rock, down through Hot Springs, along I40 to Clarksville, and along U.S.
65 from Conway to the Missouri border. Additional equipment placement is well
under way to eliminate areas with poor signal quality.
The Stone family has grown
in size and at the present time, Magazine Telephone Company has eight family
members employed by the Company. We all have different areas of responsibility,
however we are all ready to serve your communications needs. Kathy and I have
thirteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren. We plan to be around for
a long time. Our telephone numbers are in the directory and on our web site at www.magtel.com.
If you have a problem, please let us know. Your problem is our problem and we
want to solve it for you. Thanks for allowing us to serve you.
The owners and
employees of Magazine Telephone Company.