Century Link

In the early 1880's, Thomas A. and Mary E. Bruce came to Salem from Fredericktown, Missouri. Thomas A. Bruce worked for Louis Fischer's General Store, and Mary E. Bruce worked as a seamstress making wedding gowns until, after 10 years in Salem, her eyesight began to fail. During one of her many trips to St. Louis, she became acquainted with D. A. Kusel, a manufacturer of telephones and telephone equipment, and after he explained how a telephone service system operated, she became interested in the business. Back in Salem she met discouragement from local businessmen, but persisted after Kusel told her that if she could get 30 customers she would succeed. Her switchboard began in her dining room and soon moved to an enclosed porch of her home. She first charged $2.00 for phone service, then settled on $1.00 per month for residents and $2.00 for businesses, with an additional 25¢ for a desk phone. Subscribers turned a crank on the side of their wooden phone box to ring a bell, the operator answered the switchboard and asked for the telephone number, and the operator then connected the call. Residents often called the operator for baseball scores and local news. Mary E. Bruce ran the switchboard until her eyesight worsened, then hired Tista Russell as an operator, and also hired Maude Malady, who later married John Bryson. The linemen included Bill Seay, who remained until 1904, and Stevenson, until 1906. Mary E. Bruce later hired Charles B. Jeffries, who stayed with her until she sold the company in 1928 to businessmen from Rolla, Missouri. She died at Charles Jeffries's home on May 8, 1942.

Salem, Missouri · United States