23/07/2026
Phone Exchange at Baker City, Oregon, 1898...
During the 1890s, telephone service in Oregon evolved from an expensive urban novelty into a vital, interconnected regional network. While major cities like Portland had already established early subscription bases among wealthy residents, hotels, and businesses, the 1890s saw a massive push to bring the technology to rural and isolated communities. Local exchanges began popping up rapidly across the state, such as in Salem where the switchboard was run out of Lee Steiner’s drug store around 1890, and in Baker City and Medford later in the decade. The era was defined by the expansion of early long-distance copper lines, including a historic 1898 connection by the Pacific States Telephone Company that finally linked Portland to San Francisco, and an 1899 line from The Dalles south to Prineville. Because infrastructure was still highly localized, early rural subscribers frequently relied on shared party lines, hand-cranked wooden wall phones, and local switchboard operators—colloquially known as "hello girls"—to manually connect their calls.
Photo Source
Public Domain
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