In 1905, Ridgeway had two telephone exchanges. There had been telephone service in Ridgeway since at least 1899 per the Ridgeway Journal. According the “Ridgeway: Then and Now” centennial book, the earliest telephone service was the Neff Telephone exchange which was located in the Kerns building and operated by Nellie Nelson. Later, it was located in the Grant building which stood on the now empty lot on the corner of Main and Cedar streets before the Farmer’s National Bank of Ridgeway built there.
Around 1905, the Harrison County Mutual Telephone company also started operations in Ridgeway. However, there was trouble as “the two exchanges do not exchange”. Per an editorial in the March 31, 1905 edition of the Ridgeway Journal, the fact that the two telephone companies didn’t work together, “the business firms having patrons on both systems would be compelled to be at the expense of renting two phones to get the service demanded.” The editor felt that the two companies needed to work out their differences and if they could not, then “the patrons, as a last resort, can take steps unitedly and for an agreement.”
However, as late as 1918, both companies were still in service and some businesses did, in fact have, have a phone for each exchange. In Bethany, a funeral director and two doctors listed a phone number for each exchange (Bethany Democrat, Nov 11, 1912) The Neff Telephone exchange provided telephone service to Bethany and Gilman City (and probably other towns) in addition to Ridgeway. The Harrison County Mutual Telephone changed hands a few times, but eventually outlasted the Neff exchange, becoming Grand River Mutual that still provides our service today.
