MYSTERIOUS SWITCHBOARD — FIRST TELEPHONE EXCHANGE AT EL DORADO — BUTLER COUNTY TELEPHONE AND ELECTRIC COMPANY — GROWTH OF BUSINESS — MISSOURI AND KANSAS TELEPHONE COMPANY — OFFICERS — CHARLES H. PARKER.

About the year 1883, a certain electrical construction company, located in the eastern part of the United States, was manufacturing a telephone switchboard which was an infringement on the then existing patents covering such apparatus, and a far-sighted Uncle Samuel, ever mindful of the protection granted to struggling inventors, decided that the switchboard above mentioned should not be allowed to endure and thrive. So an order was sent out that these boards should be confiscated, wherever found. It so happened that there was, at that time, in use at Peabody, Kansas, equipment of this make, and in order to destroy it, government agents one day went to Peabody to take the board, but when they arrived there, there was not a sign of any such apparatus. These officials hunted high and low for several months and finally gave up their search, and the disappearance of the old Peabody switchboard became one of the mysteries of early day telephony in southern Kansas.

Several years later, sometime in the late nineties. O. R. Cline. now a resident of Long Beach, Cal., after considerable hard work and many vicissitudes, started a small telephone exchange at El Dorado, county seat of Butler county, Kansas. "Started" is the right word to use in this connection, for as far as we can learn, there was never a real organization of a company or formal opening of the exchange. Our pioneers in the telephone game were untutored in the profession, and for the most part, men of small means, and their exchanges grew only as they accumulated the money to extend their lines. Well, any way, when the exchange started at El Dorado, there, as natural as life and just as crude as ever, stood the old outlawed switchboard which years before had disappeared from Peabody. It is said that to this day, never a man has been found that could tell of the "doing's" of the old board from the time it "strayed" from Peabody, until it was "discovered" at El Dorado.

And that, dear reader, is about all that I can tell you of the beginning of what has, until recently, been known as the Butler County

Telephone and Electric Company. It is known that for some years Mr. Cline conducted an exchange at El Dorado, and that the exchange grew under his management, and then the possibilities of the new industry beginning to make themselves known, a company was organized, on a sound financial basis, and this company bought out Mr. Cline. The exchange at El Dorado thus became the nucleus and headquarters of the Butler County Company.

The stock of the Butler County Telephone and Electric Company was all held by parties in Butler county. The organizers and officers were not telephone men, and it soon became apparent that someone with a broad knowledge of the business should have active management of the affairs of the company and about this time there was recommended to them a young man then connected with the Central Union Telephone Company, operating in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, who desired to avail himself of Horace Greeley's famous advice, and came west where there was to be found health, wealth and happiness. After certain encouraging correspondence, this young man came to El Dorado, and as he and company decided that they should be mutually benefitted by the connection he was offered the superintendency of the company, and accepted it, and Charles H. Parker thus became associated with the strong directorate of men in charge of the affairs of the organization.

Under Mr. Parker's supervision, proper construction, operating and maintenance methods were put into effect and with good service and extensive toll connections and courteous treatment, it was soon found that the company was taxed to its utmost to provide facilities for the everincreasing business, but it has always endeavored to take care of the demand for rural service and toll business. Toll circuits were constructed to reach every point in Butler county, and were met at certain points by lines of the Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company thereby giving the local organization long distance service to all Bell points. In time it was necessary to build a modern plant at El Dorado, and in addition exchanges were opened at Augusta, Douglass, Towanda, Benton, Leon and Chelsea. From the sixty stations purchased from Mr. Cline, the company grew, in a few years, to over 2200 stations, and over 400 miles of toll circuits.

It was about this time that oil and gas activities began to manifest themselves in Butler county, and the company, realizing that they could not hope to keep up with the growth of business and population, and believing that the interests of the people could best be served by a larger and more extensive operating company, an offer was made to the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company, which purchased the entire holding of the Butler county company. The deal was closed early in March, 1916. The Butler county company operated the property until April 1, at which time the active management was taken over by the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company.

A word should be said regarding the men who for years so success-

fully conducted the affairs of the old Butler county organization. The president was A. J. Holderman, president of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of El Dorado, and for years a member of the State legislature; vice president, John Ellis, retired farmer and vice president of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank; secretary, F. S. Allen, abstractor, and Superintendent Charles H. Parker. Besides these men, on the Board of Directors were: W. F. Benson, state bank examiner; R. H. Hazlett, president, El Dorado National Bank; W. I. Shriver, cashier, Farmers and Merchants National Bank, and R. H. Julian, a druggist. These men are all substantial business men of El Dorado and have the entire confidence of their neighbors and associates. They have helped to make El Dorado the thriving commercial and agricultural center that it is.

Charles H. Parker, who has been retained by the Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company as district manager of the newly created El Dorado district of the western division, began his telephone career at the age of sixteen as a groundman for the Central Union Telephone Company in central Illinois, and remained with that company for twelve years, acting in many capacities, having been local and district manager at several exchanges. He came west because he thought there were better opportunities for a young man, and has never regretted that he took the step.

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