State officials attended the grand opening of Hamilton’s new telephone system on January 21, 1937, marking the modernization of telecommunications in the Bitterroot Valley. Ivan C. Gustafson owned this property and built the building to the telephone company’s specifications for its exclusive use. Hamilton’s telephone office had previously occupied quarters in the Teidt Building on Second Street for a quarter of a century, where a large six-operator switchboard required only two operators at any given time. The new streamlined facility provided a more compact two-person switchboard, and an unlocked public phone booth opened on Main Street to simplify night calls. The building also had its own hot water plant and stoker, an operators’ restroom off the main office fitted with modern lockers and a davenport, and a two-car garage at the rear. Built of red brick, it featured a prominent Romanesque arched entry and buff-colored brick trim. A small apartment was added in 1952, and the telephone exchange operated there until 1964.