Warwick Valley Telephone, a founder of the Chamber of Commerce

The Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce is marking its 80th anniversary this year with a membership celebration on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Minerals at Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon, New Jersey.

During the evening Chamber Board President John Redman will present tribute awards to the founding five businesses that have consistently renewed membership for 80 years.

The chamber’s original certificate of incorporation for what was then named The Warwick Board of Trade, Inc. was signed and dated January 19, 1939. That name was changed to Warwick Chamber of Commerce in 1951.

One of the five founding businesses was the Warwick Telephone Company.

Today that company, renamed Warwick Valley Telephone (WVT), is a leading regional telecommunications company operating in Orange County and northern New Jersey.

Back in the day: A single public telephone, a single operator

On Dec. 1, 1901, 25 residents met in the Village Building to organize their own telephone company.

And in January 1902 nine directors were nominated and the articles of incorporation were filed.

By April 1902 the new company initiated telephone service in the Village of Warwick, with a single operator, paid $10 a month, manning a plug-in switchboard at the single public telephone located in a drugstore on Main Street..

Turn the crank for the 'party lines'

The technology of the day required that a customer turn a crank on the phone to alert the operator, who then placed the call by manually patching callers to the people they wished to reach.

Because there was a limited number of lines in the system, customers shared "party lines," with each user assigned a distinctive ring pattern that would indicate an incoming call.

Employing technology crude by today's standards, the new telephone company nevertheless played a crucial role in bonding the disparate villages and hamlets that made up the Town of Warwick.

In 1907 the company established a permanent location on the second floor of the Finch building, 64 Main St., currently home to Frank’s Pizzeria.

Then in 1949 Warwick Valley Telephone moved into a new building, the company's current location at 47 Main St., and bought new equipment to become a full-dial operation.

By 1950 the company had 3,640 telephones in service, using five exchanges. It was also making further inroads in New Jersey and in the next few years opened central offices in Highland Lake and Upper Greenwood Lake.

In the upcoming months before the Chamber’s 80th anniversary membership celebration, The Warwick Advertiser will continue to publish a series of articles profiling each of the five founding businesses: Seely & Durland Insurance, Warwick Valley Telephone, Parkin Supply – Plumbing & Heating, St. Anthony Community Hospital and Sanford Insurance, now known as Broadfield Insurance Group.

Historical information assistance provided courtesy of:

Jean Beattie, ILEC Planning & Product Manager WVT;

Sue Gardner, Local History Librarian and Town of Warwick Deputy Historian; and

Dr. Richard Hull, Town of Warwick Historian.