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Townshippers'
Association
The early history of the Eastern Townships Telephone Company is
also the story of Carlos Skinner. A jeweller and watchmaker by trade,
and a native of Waterloo, Skinner, according to writer Paul Delaney,
was a "man of boundless energy with an abiding curiosity in
new scientific developments."
Skinner first
became interested in the telephone when he read about Alexander
Graham Bell's invention in Scientific American in October
1877, writes Delaney. With the assistance of a friend, William Farber,
he built a telephone in ten days. At this time, Skinner had a telegraph
agency in his jewellery store. It is reported that he connected
his telephone to the telegraph line, placed a call to Montreal,
and spoke to the Montreal office sixty miles away. This, the first
long distance phone call made in Canada, took place three years
before the establishment of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada
in 1880.
Skinner opened
a jewellery and watchmaking store after moving to Sherbrooke in
1878. His fascination with the telephone continued, and he helped
form an independent telephone company, whose name later became the
People's Telephone Company, and finally the Eastern Townships Telephone
Company.
 In
spite of the many difficulties, such as the erection of poles and
lines in Sherbrooke, a lack of funds, and having to learn how to
manufacture component parts, the company operated independently
for many years in and around Sherbrooke and competed successfully
with Bell Telephone.
The telephone was still a novelty at the beginning
of the century. (Photo: Farfan Collection)
When Skinner
retired in 1912, the Eastern Townships Telephone Company was one
of the largest and oldest independent telephone companies. To many
residents, the company was known as "Skinner Telephone."
It was so well established and so effectively run that Bell Telephone
abandoned any idea of competing and eventually purchased the company
in 1953.
Reference:
Paul Delaney, "The Eastern Townships Telephone Company,"
in Annals of Richmond County and Vicinity, Volume 2, 1980,
48-50.
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