Lufkin Telephone Exchange
Lufkin, Angelina County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Telephone service in Lufkin began in 1898 when Dr. Alexander Madison Denman and his friend Judge Edwin James Mantooth strung telephone wires between their offices. The system was so popular that the pair soon formed the Lufkin Telephone Exchange with partner Eli Wiener, operating from offices on this site. In 1908 they contracted with the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company to provide long distance service. The company grew as rapidly as telephone technology itself, eventually acquiring the telephone exchanges of a large portion of East Texas. In 1985 the corporation was reorganized as the Lufkin-Conroe Telephone Exchange. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1898 two Lufkin friends, Dr. Alexander Denman and Judge Edwin Mantooth, strung a telephone wire between their offices—and the novelty proved so popular they soon formed the Lufkin Telephone Exchange with partner Eli Wiener. Long-distance service followed in 1908, and the company grew alongside the technology itself, eventually absorbing exchanges across much of East Texas before its 1985 reorganization.
Why it matters
The homegrown exchange shows how the telephone spread through small-town America not by national fiat but through local entrepreneurs wiring their own communities into the modern age.
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Related people
- · Alexander Madison Denman
- · Edwin James Mantooth
- · Eli Wiener
Themes & tags
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