The following is a technical history of the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company prior to 1960, based upon the Telephone World webmaster’s personal perspective. It may not be totally accurate but should be a good guide. There were three web-based histories that show, to some degree, the history of the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company. these are the histories of Cranberry Township and Richland Township as well as the official history of North Pittsburgh Telephone Company. These were used as reference sources.
From Origin to Dial Telephones
1906 – North Pittsburgh Telephone was founded. The first two manual exchanges were Richland (based on modern-day Bakerstown-Warrendale road) and Mars (based in Mars Borough).
1908 – 258 phones were in service.
1909 – Gibsonia manual exchange was created on Route 910 (Gibsonia Road)
1910 – Wexford manual exchange was created.
1917 – Curtisville manual exchange was created.
1923 – People’s Telephone Company of Mars was purchased.
1930 – Gibsonia office was remodeled
1936 – Richland manual exchange retired, customers moved to Gibsonia or Mars exchanges.
1940 – Cooperstown exchange was created.
1945 – Start of construction of new dial exchanges for Gibsonia, Wexford and Criders Corners.
1949 – The Gibsonia, Wexford and Vinewood dial exchanges were opened for service. The Vinewood exchange (VI-4 or 844) was created to serve Cranberry, Bradford Woods and Warrendale. (This later became the PResident-6 office or Criders Corners 776 exchange.)
1951 – Dial telephone customers were accessible by the new DDD (Direct Distance dial) network experiment at Englewood, NJ. The central offices that were accessible were Gibsonia, Cooperstown (then called Twinbrook), Wexford and Vinewood (Precursor to Criders Corners).
1953 – Saxonburg Telephone Company was purchased.
1954 – Freeport Telephone Company was purchased.
1954 – Used microwave transmission systems.
1959 – All exchanges were converted to dial service (all Automatic Electric Step by Step). First independent to completely go dial telephone.
List of North Pittsburgh Telephone Company Unofficial History Pages
About the North Pittsburgh Telephone Company
Information about the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company and its affiliated companies.
Personal Interest of North Pittsburgh Telephone Company Part 1
Background on the personal interest and recollection of the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company from the Telephone World webmaster’s perspective.
Personal Interest of North Pittsburgh Telephone Company Part 2
More information on the personal interest and recollection of the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company.
North Pittsburgh Telephone Technical History Timeline Part 1 (1906-1959)
A technical history of the North Pittsburgh Telephone Company from 1906 to 1959 from the prospective of the Telephone World webmaster.
North Pittsburgh Telephone Technical History Timeline Part 2 (1960-1980)
A technical history of the North Pittsburgh Telephone Company from 1960 to 1980 from the prospective of the Telephone World webmaster.
North Pittsburgh Telephone Technical History Timeline Part 3 (1980-2007)
A technical history of the North Pittsburgh Telephone Company from 1980 to 2007 from the prospective of the Telephone World webmaster.
Epilogue: Consolidated Communications of Pennsylvania (2008 to Present Day)
An epilogue of what happened post merger with Consolidated Communications.
North Pittsburgh Telephone Company Central Office Building & Miscellaneous Pictures
Pictures and information on the central office buildings and associated equipment for the former North Pittsburgh Telephone Company.