Looking Back

Telephones came to Emmitsburg in 1882 and spelled the beginning of the end for the telegraph. The first long-distance line was run to Frederick in 1883, and the first telephone exchange opened in May 1884 in the Adolphus Harner Building on W. Main Street. The first switchboard operator was Theresa Ziegler, the daughter of the building’s owner.

The original phones connected the caller to a switchboard operator, who would then connect the caller to the desired number. During the first two weeks of operation, it was reported that 2,409 calls were made.

The Emmitsburg Chronicle wrote about a call they received from a Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company representative from Frederick in 1884. “We arranged for the introduction of the instrument into our office and we are pleased to learn that the gentlemen have made fifteen contracts in this place, and among others at St. Joseph’s House and at St. Mary’s College. Thus, we overcome the complaint of the past that communication with Baltimore was easier than with the town, but two miles distant, while Baltimore is 60 miles,” the newspaper wrote.

The first phones in Emmitsburg were on party lines or phone lines shared by multiple people. It spread the expense of having a phone among the users. It also meant that anytime someone called someone on the party line, all the phones on the line rang. This could be annoying, but people also had to pay attention to how the phones rang. Each subscriber on the party line was assigned a ring combination, such as three short rings or one long ring and one short ring, as a way to know who the call was for.

While these early phones could be useful, they were expensive. Not enough people in the area subscribed to them. The town had less than two dozen telephones.

“It is interesting to note that the first exchange was discontinued here just about nine years after its installation, because the town was too small and the company could not justify the existence of the exchange due to the small profits. The toll line also was discontinued to Frederick in 1895, but a line was kept in service between Mt. St. Mary’s College and the Western Union office in Emmitsburg,” The Emmitsburg Chronicle reported in 1957.

Phone service did not return to town until 1910. At that time, the town had 55 subscribers.

On March 25, 1913, John A. Kennedy in Frederick placed a call to his 18-year-old daughter, Susan Gertrude Kennedy, who was staying for a few weeks with her friend, Valerie Josephine Welty, who was 23 years old. He placed the call in the evening, and Valerie answered the phone, which was installed in her family’s home.

They were exchanging pleasantries “when a terrific crash on the wire was heard,” The Frederick Post reported.

A thunderstorm had moved through the area earlier, and it was believed lightning struck the line, sending a charge of electricity along it in both directions. Kennedy said, “He had his right hand on the transmitter and believes that this formed the circuit,” according to The Frederick Post.

Kennedy, “received a shock from the telephone that sent him spinning from the chair in which he was sitting.” Welty also received a shock on her end that caused her to drop the phone.

Kennedy had not been seriously injured, but the entire right side of his body was numb for five hours. Welty fared better and just felt a tingle for a short time.

By morning, things were back to normal, except during breakfast, Kennedy, “remarked to his wife that there was a slight taste of Sulphur in his mouth which he had noticed directly after receiving the shock,” The Frederick Post reported.

Despite this small glitch, phones continued to grow in popularity in Emmitsburg. By 1920, the town had 204 subscribers. In 1921, the switchboard system was moved from the Harner Building to the Felix home on Main Street, and the three Felix sisters became the switchboard operators. It remained there until the phone system switched to a direct-dial service in 1954. At that time, the town had 690 phones.

With the direct-dial system, Hillcrest 7 became Emmitsburg’s phone prefix, which on the phone dial becomes HI7 or the more commonly known 447 prefix for Emmitsburg.