Business of the Telephone
More information on “The Business of the Telephone”.
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Construction of Vail Mansion, 1916
As head of one of the largest monopolies in the country, Vail amassed considerable wealth. With a home in Vermont, he also wanted a grand new home in New Jersey. Construction started in 1916 on an Italian-inspired mansion in Morristown. Vail died before he could move into the estate, and it was given to the town.
Frederick Curtiss, photographer.
Image Courtesy of the Collections of the North Jersey History & Genealogy Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Library.
Front of Vail Mansion, in snow, 1923
As head of one of the largest monopolies in the country, Vail amassed considerable wealth. With a home in Vermont, he also wanted a grand home in New Jersey. Construction started in 1916 on an Italian-inspired mansion in Morristown. Vail died before he could move into the estate, and it was given to the town.
Frederick Curtiss, photographer.
Image Courtesy of the Collections of the North Jersey History & Genealogy Center, The Morristown & Morris Township Library.
Theodore Vail, 1878
Born in Ohio in 1845, Theodore Vail grew up in New Jersey where he had important family ties. His great uncle was Stephen Vail, founder of Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, NJ (today’s Historic Speedwell). His cousin, Alfred Vail had worked alongside Samuel Morse to popularize the telegraph in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Theodore grew up in Morristown, attending public school and the Morristown Academy.
Vail secured a job with the mail service and worked his way up through the Postal System, eventually becoming the General Superintendent of the Railway Mail service.
Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.
Theodore Vail, 1915
In 1878, Vail left his job as General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service for Bell Telephone. Peers in Washington, D.C., thought he was making a mistake by placing his bets on new technology. One colleague wrote, “For T.N.V. to accept the superintendency of a Yankee notion in preference to the position he holds now is certainly laughable.” Vail commuted to New York from his home in New Jersey. Vail’s remarkable business instincts helped to squash competition coming from Western Union and other smaller phone companies. In 1885, he was named AT&T’s first president.
Image Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center.
Quote from Albert Bigelow Paine, Biographer of Theodore Vail
“It has been said that Bell created the telephone and Vail created the telephone business.”
Three Branches of the Bell System
By 1925, the Bell System was comprised of three entities, that lasted until the 1984 divestiture.
1. American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T): AT&T was the original corporation that linked the Bell System together. Its function was to provide telecommunication service. It was made up of many regional Bell Telephone companies.
2. Western Electric: Western Electric was licensed to make telephones for the Bell Telephone Company by 1879, and became part of the Bell System in 1882. Its chief responsibility was to manufacture devices and purchase material goods for use in the Bell System.
3. Bell Telephone Laboratories: Bell Telephone Laboratories branched off from the Western Electric Engineering Department in 1925. It became a division of research and development to create and improve technologies needed for the Bell System.
Early Company Chart
This chart shows the path from Bell’s small Boston start-up, backed by Gardiner and Hubbard to the company known as AT&T. Bell and Watson had largely stayed out of managing this growing business, and by 1881 both had left to pursue other interests.
Featured in A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System, The Early Years (1875–1925). Prepared by Members of the Technical Staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories, M.D. Fagen, Editor. Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., 1975.
The Western Electric Building, Greenwich and Thames Streets, New York City, 1893
By 1879 Western Electric was licensed to make telephones for the Bell Telephone Company, becoming the exclusive manufacturer within three years. In 1888, the ten-story Western Electric office and factory was built on Greenwich Street. Construction started on the larger Western Electric headquarters at 463 West Street in Manhattan in 1896.
From King’s Handbook of New York City, An outline history and description of the American metropolis. With ... illustrations, etc. (Second edition.) 1893. By Moses King. Page 843. Digitized by The British Library..