FLASHBACK: from February 20, 1974 – Steinbach and the telephone share 100-year celebrations

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/09/2020 (1800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two of the most significant events celebrating a centennial in 1974 are the arrival of Mennonites in Steinbach and the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.

In July of 1874, when Bell conceived the idea of transmitting voice over a wire, Manitoba was a postage stamp province about to receive its first group of Mennonite settlers.

The two events would not be significantly connected until 1903, when the first telephones arrived in Steinbach. It was that year, two telephones were brought to Steinbach to launch a telephone exchange that was operated under a private group until 1959, when the exchange was purchased by the Manitoba Telephone System.

The increasing use of long distance facilities led to the construction of the Trans-Canada Microwave Network System. This telephone skyway stretched from coast to coast and was completed in 1958 through the co-operation of Canada’s major telephone companies, including Manitoba Telephone System.

It was August 23, 1957 when Steinbach got its own long distance line and an operator first dialed a number direct to Winnipeg. The change was the first step in a series of improvements for the area by the Manitoba Telephone System.

That new service was faster, because a Steinbach operator could dial directly to Winnipeg without having to first relay the information to St Pierre, where the lines to Winnipeg had to carry all the calls from the Southeast. Steinbach operators still had access to St Pierre lines during busy times.

At the same time, a group of Steinbach businessmen installed direct lines to the city, so Winnipeg customers looking for a good deal on a car could call Steinbach as if it was across the street, rather than 40 miles away. Steinbach subscribers to the service could call any number in the Winnipeg telephone directory without long distance fees. Winnipeg subscribers could call the 10 Steinbach direct service numbers, also without fee.

Although the fee for the service was quite high, businessmen, including Chamber of Commerce President John D. Penner, said it was still an inexpensive way to tap into the huge potential of Winnipeg business.

With Steinbach becoming the operating centre for automatic switchboards at Kleefeld, Niverville, Chortitz and Blumenort, there was a period of unprecedented growth and increased demand for both residential and business service, over the next 15 years.

By the beginning of this year (1974), Steinbach alone had more than 4,000 telephone subscribers.

The Manitoba Telephone System continued to expand throughout the province, as well as in the Southeast and recently celebrated the installation of its 500,000th telephone in Manitoba, where there is now one telephone for every two people in the province.

And what lies ahead for telephone communications, according to industry researchers, would appear to be as distant and unbelievable as Bell’s first prediction of people being able to communicate over a wire.

In the future, many new and exciting forms of communication could include space satellites, data transmission, laser beams used as telephone cables, picture-telephones, and shopping from touch-tone telephones from the home of Manitoba residents.

“The doors of the world of telecommunications have just been opened.”