Reardan Phone System
Ed Hopkins and Margaret Frame married in Aug 1916 and he is manager of Reardan Telephone Company
Reardan seems to have switched to direct dial around November 1957. Davenport did so on March 19, 1960. Both exchanges were owned by General Telephone at the time.
Spokane Chronicle 29 Dec 1925 p11 c2:
INTERSTATE CO. BUYS REARDAN PHONE SYSTEM
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Manager of Development Department Announces Purchase of New Lines.
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The Reardan Telephone company, which operates the telephone exchange at Reardan, Wash., and owns and operates rural lines covering 400 square miles of territory, has been purchased by the Interstate Utilities company of Spokane, it was announced today by C. E. Hartigan, manager of the development department of the Utilities company."We just recently completed the deal whereby we take over all the holdings of the Reardan company and the property will he taken into the system of the Interstate Utilities company before January 1," stated Mr. Hartigan. The Reardan Telephone company has approximately 400 subscribers. In lines extend for many miles in all directions from Reardan and the territory covered is approximately 400 square miles.
Naturally In Territory.
The toll lines of the Interstate Utilities company from Davenport to Spokane pass through Reardan, so that exchange falls naturally into the territory covered by our company."The Interstate Utilities company purchased all the capital stock of the Reardan Telephone company. The company is capitalized for $20,000, which was owned by a group of Reardan and Spokane people.
"The Rearden property has been one of the more successful independent telephone companies of its size.
"The Interstate Utilities company plans to spend considerable money in the Reardan exchange to bring it up to the standard of the company's holdings. During 1926 we will spend about $5000 in Reardan."
The Interstate Utilities company operates 31 telephone exchanges in northern Idaho, eastern Washington and Western Montana. It has general offices in the Hutton building in Spokane.