Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/326

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��now President of the American Union Tele- o^i-aph Compan}'.

iMr. Eekert was succeeded in Mansfield, as Superintendent of the Telegraph, by Mr. 0. H. Booth, who now holds that position. He came here as an employe of the office, and has risen to the position he now holds. He removed the office from the room in the Wiler House to the southwest corner of Fourth and jMain streets, in Stocking's building, where it is now located.

It lacks but a little of forty years since the first telegi-aph office was opened in this county. This lapse of time has brought great changes, none more strikingly exhibited than in the tele- graph business. Now Mr. Booth superintends a telegraph interest extending over nearly three thousand miles of railroads, on many of which are double or triple lines of wire, aggregating over ten thousand miles of line.

The opening of the war gave the telegraph, then languishing, an impetus that soon sent it to the front as one of the leading business in- terests. Every telegraph office in the land was the center of intense interest when a battle occurred. Often crowds would block the streets in front of .an office, waiting for the latest dis- patches. The same scenes were again seen dur- ing the late Franco-German war. The Mans- field office was often crowded all night with eager citizens, hanging over the clicking of the in- struments, waiting news of a pending battle.

Since the war at home, telegraph facilities have greatly increased. Twenty telegraph cir- cuits now traverse the county, connecting Mansfield with all the leadinar cities of the

��country. The new American Union Company, which is now making such an earnest and persistent eflfort to obtain business, comes through the county on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

There are fourteen telegraph offices in Rich- land County, viz. : five in Mansfield ; one in Bellville ; one in Independence ; one in Lex- ington ; one in Shelby ; one in Plymouth ; one at Toledo Junction ; one at Lucas ; one in Windsor, and one in Ontario.

Another discovery is now awakening a gen- eneral interest in all parts of the countrj^ — the telephone. It is largely being used by business firms, and l)y man}' private parties, who thus connect, by word of mouth, their dwellings and places of business. Over forty business offices and residences are now connected, in Mansfield, and are enabled to communicate with each other at a moment's call, obviating the necessity of employing a special messenger.

One of the largest churches in the cit}^, the Congregationalist, has adopted its use, and, by means of its aid, several members who are too feeble to leave their residences hear ever}' part of the Service, almost as distinctl}^ as if in the church.

Quite a number of persons who graduated in the Mansfield telegraph office have attained po- sitions of influence in the business world. Among these may be mentioned William Hunt- er, now Chief of the Western Union Supply Department in New York City, and James H. Barrett, who is now Superintendent of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway.

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