About Peoples Telecommunications, LLC.

"Peoples Telecommunications, LLC is dedicated to meeting the needs of our customers by providing the latest, high quality communications services while maintaining integrity and affordability to our customers and communities.”   This is our Mission Statement which has been developed to keep your current phone service focused on your communication needs.

  General Manager Kathy Faircloth along with Ruth Hurt, Jennifer Leach, Candy Teagarden & Johnna Ross staff the business office.   Technical and engineering staff include Assistant Manager Pat Peuser, Dan Troth, Leon Callahan & Tom Stump.  Trevor Riley heads the Peoples PC Sales &  Repair Services formed in March 2006. 

Current panel of board members, Jim Stainbrook, Harold Mooney Jr., Bill Atwood, Larry Coffin & Robert McGee, together with Ms. Faircloth are focused on the Vision Statement:  "Peoples Telecommunications, LLC will continually stay abreast of emerging technologies in order to expand service offerings while maintaining high quality of service".

History: 

In May, 1889, after a representative of the Equitable Telephone Company of Cape Girardeau, Missouri planted the idea to build a telephone line connecting adjoining towns, business men from LaCygne, Pleasanton & Mound City formed a stock company, “Border Telephone Company”.  R.F. Thorne,

W.O. Fuller, & George C. Wynkoop, representatives from LaCygne, served on the first board.  With much enthusiasm, the line connecting all three towns was completed by the end of the year and plans to connect to Paola with an eventual link to Kansas City were being discussed. 

On December 17, C.R. Baldwin of Kansas City to establish a LaCygne City Exchange.  A few months later, Mr. Baldwin sold the franchise to George W. Yenser.  Mr. Yenser set up a central office over Broadwell’s Drug Store and by May 1, 1903 the LaCygne Telephone Exchange was serving the city with 58 phones.  Arthur Lacy was the first Lineman.  Anna Danner and Grace Whaley were the first telephone operators.  By the beginning of 1904, LaCygne Telephone Exchange was growing with

While building the LaCygne Exchange, G.W. Yenser was also building some country lines.  In July, east of town.  October, and Prairie Home settlements.  Independent rural lines were under construction in all directions and by various groups with no clear provisions for a central office or other means of connections.   

The telephone snarl was rapidly becoming a problem. On May 26, 1905, representatives from all lines met to discuss what might be done to unite the various lines and furnish service to all.  This led to the formation of Peoples Mutual Telephone Company.  Under direction of Peoples Mutual Telephone Company President, N.D. Patterson, a central switch board was ordered July 7, 1905 and a new office was opened above the LaCygne State Bank at Commercial and Broadway in LaCygne.  Service under Peoples Mutual Telephone began January 1, night operator. 

During this time, the LaCygne Exchange and Toll lines, started operating under the name of Consolidated Telephone Company and was in competition with Peoples Mutual Telephone Company.  Consolidated Telephone Company was sold to C.F. Miller of Iowa and then sold to C.W. Tucker.  The company name changed under Mr. Tucker to LaCygne Telephone Company. 

As Peoples Mutual Telephone continued to expand into the rural areas, the process to incorporate was started January 3, 1914.  In the  ensuing months, the by-laws were approved , five directors were elected and the charter signed by Elmer Evey, D.W. Grimm, G.B. Jones, W.J. Dyer and Robert Lee on August 26, 1914. 

April 1, 1916, Peoples Mutual Telephone bought the LaCygne Telephone Company and moved all offices to the upper floor of a building located at the southeast corner of Walnut and Broadway.  Exchange lines reached from the Missouri border on the east to Fairview, Prairie Home and other adjoining communities on the west; Stonypoint, Sunnyridge, Hawkeye and Jingo on the North; and in July, 1929 the purchase of the Boicourt Exchange completed the coverage to the south.  Expansions in 1946 moved the offices to the lower floor of the same building. 

With the coming of automation, a new building was built at 224 North Broadway, the same block the original company started in 1905.  This building housed the switching, garages and business office.  Elsie Daniels, Alice McClanahan, Margaret Clark, Marie Daniels, Shirley Frerking, Marjorie Davis, Ethel Lindsey and Marjorie Tribby were operators in 1968 when Peoples Mutual went from switchboard service to a dial system. 1976 brought the completion of upgrading our system to buried cable and to one party service.  General Manager, Frank Mowry, along with board members James E. Stainbrook, Charles E. Brayton, Clyde Hamilton, Frank Weickert and Harold Mooney, Jr. supervised a building expansion and move of the switching and business offices to 210 N Broadway.  An upgrade to digital switching was installed in 1985 and computers became part of the switch and daily routines in 1989 under General Manager, Loyal Lay.

Bibliography:

Independent Telephony in Kansas, published by State Independent Telephone Association of Kansas, 1990, pp85-91.   

Name changes from Peoples Mutual Telephone to Peoples Telecommunications, Inc. in September 1999 to Peoples Telecommunications, LLC in November 2001, the 2000 building addition and the 2005 new warehouse project have all been recent accomplishments of the current board of directors & management and complete the company history.

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