Watford's Bell Personnel

With Watford's 150th coming up, we wanted to celebrate early with a Watford inspired Stories from the Vaullt.

Telephone history in Watford began in 1885 with a simple switchboard installation in Taylors Drug and Book Store located on Main Street in Watford. Mr. Taylor was appointed the first telephone manager and telephone services were available 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. on weekends and holidays. There were a total of 11 subscribers, with the majority being other businesses located in the Watford vicinity.

In 1887, William McLeary took over Mr. Taylors role and worked as telephone manager for over 35 years, seeing subscribers steadily grow to over 100 by the beginning of WWI. Several private telephone lines were installed throughout Watford and one line connected Watford to the nearby community of Walnut. In 1911, the Brooke Municipal Telephone system formed and connected Bell services at Watford and Alvinston.

With the introduction of the rotary phone to Watford in the 1940s, service boomed and the availability of long distance services grew. By Watford's 100th birthday in 1973, over 720 phones were in service in Watford.