Odessa, TX, United States
Odessa Telephone Exchange. Began operation about 1897, with Edna Fielding as "central" (operator). After Miss Fielding's death in 1902, the Rev. G. B. Ely, a baptist minister, purchased the exchange. Pioneer rancher A. Quincy Cooper bought the system in 1911, and extended service to rural areas, uti
lizing barbed wire fences as telephone lines. While checking his repairs on a barbed wire line on Jan. 25, 1915, Cooper interrupted the first transcontinental telephone call between Alexander Graham B
Listen to the audio guide for Black plaque № 16485 Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off