The Steelville Telephone Exchange Inc. was legally incorporated on May 6, 1952. Its first directors meeting was held on May 15, 1952, when the Steelville Telephone Company was purchased from the late Lark Brothers. An REA loan, the first in Missouri, was obtained to construct a modern dial telephone system. On November 17, 1954, an elaborate celebration marked the cut-over from magneto to dial, and an old 1900 model magneto telephone was buried here. The board of directors included S. H. Hicks, Harry Kehner, E. W. Gravatt, L. E. Klemme, L. J. Perkins, Dan Worley, Presseley Ross, W. A. Dunlap, and M. McMorrow.