As snow fell, fire desecrated Bluff telephone switchboard
- Mary Lou Montgomery
- 32 minutes ago
- 5 min read
This notice regarding the Bluff City Telephone Company was found within a digital folder of information regarding “The Telephone in Hannibal 1879-1912.” A fire destroyed the switchboard of the Bluff City Telephone Company at the end of 1911, and the company was ultimately taken over by the Bell Telephone Company in early 1912. Steve Chou Collection.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
A blanket of snow greeted Hannibalians as they awoke at their usual hour on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 16, 1911.
The Hannibal Courier-Post described the scene in that day’s edition: “Hannibalians who slept soundly through the night were surprised at the beautiful sight which greeted them in the morning. Trees, telephone wires, fences and housetops were blanketed with a heavy coverlet of ‘the beautiful’ which fell silently during the night. The snowfall at the local weather bureau registered 9 1/2 inches.”
But there was yet another surprise awaiting awakening residents. As morning dawned, the familiar operator greeting that Bluff City Telephone Company’s customers had grown accustomed to on their phone receivers was replaced by an ominous silence.
During the same night that the snow was falling, two young women - the night operators - were manning the switchboard on the second floor of the building at 211 Center St.
Sometime around 4 a.m., they noticed that smoke was filling the building’s second story, where they were on duty, and that the numbers on the switchboard were “jumping.” Rather than call the fire department, they put in a call to Bluff City’s manager, E.B. Marmaduke, who lived nearby, at 411 Bird. He arrived at the building in about 8 minutes’ time. Upon his arrival, he turned in an alarm, which was subsequently delivered to Fire Department No. 1, some three blocks away, via a Bell Telephone operator.
The firefighters, under the leadership of Fire Chief Theron B. Parks, (presumably) drove the city’s new high standard horse-drawn hose wagon, which arrived in the city on Dec. 6, 1911, just 10 days before the fire, and was put into service at Station No. 1 on South Fourth Street.
Drivers for Station 1 were Henry Clancy and William Dunn. Hoseman at the station that year were D.F. Mahoney, John Varney and Samuel Blackshaw.
It was only after Mr. Marmaduke summoned the fire department that the two night operators left the building. The Hannibal Morning Journal reported in its Dec. 17, 1911 edition: “The telephone operators displayed their bravery by remaining at the switchboard until Manager Marmaduke arrived.” They remained at the switchboard some 10 minutes after they discovered the fire. “They made their escape from the burning building through the stairway leading from the second floor to the street,” the newspaper reported.
That stairway, still in place in this building in 2026, has 22 steps from second to ground floor, according to the building’s current owners, James W. and Joan M. Wilson.
The two young women who were manning the switchboard that night were:
Marie Melchertsen, (1892-1962) who made her home at the time with her father, Hans C. Melchertsen (1848-1940), at 1079 Valley, South Hannibal. She was married to Frank R. Sanders (1888-1970).
Helen Irene Burwell, (1896-1983) who was married to Murray Farrell in December 1913.
According to a newspaper of the day, the fire originated on the outside of the brick building, on the west side adjacent to the alley. “It was impossible to extinguish the blaze with chemicals and the firemen were forced to resort to laying a line of hose from the water plug at Main and Center streets. The laddies experienced considerable trouble in quenching the fire as it was confined almost the entire time to the space between the first and second floors.”
New business
It was November 1902 when news first came to Hannibal regarding the planned establishment of the Bluff City Telephone Company.
Otto Wettstein of LaPorte, Iowa, made a visit to Hannibal in order to select a building suitable for housing the state-of-the art switchboard equipment needed for the establishment of such a system.
Three buildings were considered:
The McCooey building at 203 N. Main St., recently vacated by S.A. Drake’s harness shop.;
The aforementioned W.D. Anderson building at 211 Center Street; and
A building on Center Street owned by Judge J.P. Richards, and formerly occupied by the Hannibal Water Company.
The Anderson building, at 211 Center, was ultimately selected, based upon its easy access to the alley.
The Nov. 2, 1902 newspaper reported:
“(Wettstein) wants the entire second floor which is now divided into four rooms, they being occupied by Attorneys A.E. Dent, M.L. Farres and Morris Anderson, while one is used as a bedroom.
“It will be necessary to make several changes. Some of the partitions will be taken out and the entire second floor put in proper condition. Mr. Wettstein says that it is preferable to have the central station on or very near an alley and for this reason he selected the Anderson building.”
Joe Velie was awarded the remodeling contract. The phone company’s office rooms were to be located on the first floor, and the telephone exchange on the second floor. “The old partitions have been removed from the second floor and the room will be finished in quarter sawed hard wood, and neatly painted.”
The switchboard was placed in position on Feb. 20, 1903. The switchboard was in three sections, each weighing 1,800 pounds. The newspaper of the day noted: “The gentleman who is in charge of this work recently returned from England where he installed a similar switch board for the Westernhouse company.”
In order to get the switchboard into the building’s second story, it was necessary to take out one of the large front windows, and to remove brick from the front wall “to make a sufficient aperture to receive the board.”
Popular young lady
Hannibal Morning Journal, Aug. 24, 1905:
“Miss Fannie Brown, a very popular young lady, has accepted a position as operator with the Bluff City Telephone company and entered upon her duties yesterday.”
Also:
“Undertakers and embalmers, O’Donnell Bros., No. 403 Broadway, Bluff City telephone 188.”
After the fire
The Bluff City Telephone company professed in print that it would be up and going again within a few weeks, but alas, that didn’t happen.
The Hannibal Courier-Post reported in its Dec. 27, 1911 edition, that the Bell Telephone Company was taking over Bluff City’s holdings. The Bell company was putting finishing touches on its new building at Ninth and Broadway, and the company notified former Bluff City patrons that “As soon as possible all of the lines will be connected with the switchboard in the Bell’s new building on Broadway.”
C.W. McDaniel of Kansas City, in a message to former Bluff City customers, published in the newspaper, said: “The recent fire left the Bluff City Company helpless. We found ourselves with 500 applicants for telephone service which we could not take care of because of a lack of cable capacity. We have bought the cables and lines of the Bluff company and have a large force of men at work and we hope to fill all demands for telephone service in a very short time.”
Mrs. Mamie Francher, who was employed by the Bluff City Telephone Company at the time of the fire, accepted a position with the Bell Telephone Company, on Jan. 2, 1912.
Morris Anderson, a Hannibal attorney whose mother, Mrs. W.D. (Martine) Anderson, owned the two side-by-side buildings (209-211 Center) at the time of the fire, maintained his office on the second floor of the building to the east, at 209 Center St. He advertised in the Hannibal Morning Journal on Nov. 21, 1912, that the building which formerly was occupied by the phone company at 211 Center was for rent, and the premises would be repaired to suit the next tenant.
That tenant would be Judge John Totsch, justice of the peace.
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