Woodbury Telephone
Encyclopedia
The Woodbury Telephone Company was a telephone company serving Woodbury
, Southbury
and Bethlehem, Connecticut
. It is now owned by AT&T
. Woodbury Telephone was acquired by Southern New England Telecommunications
in 1997, approximately one year later SNET merged with SBC Communications. It continued as a separate operating company of Southern New England Telephone and at the time of its merger was the 75th largest independent telephone carrier in the United States.
On June 1, 2007, the company was dissolved and merged all assets and operations into Southern New England Telephone. At the time of the merger the company had 19,000 lines.
Woodbury, Connecticut
Woodbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,198 at the 2000 census. The town center is also designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place . Woodbury was founded in 1672....
, Southbury
Southbury, Connecticut
Southbury is a town located in western New Haven County, Connecticut, USA. Southbury is located north of Oxford and Newtown; it also is east of Brookfield. Southbury's population was 18,567 at the 2000 census....
and Bethlehem, Connecticut
Bethlehem, Connecticut
Bethlehem is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,422 at the 2000 census. The town center was designated in the 2000 census as a census-designated place ....
. It is now owned by AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
. Woodbury Telephone was acquired by Southern New England Telecommunications
Southern New England Telecommunications
Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation started operations in 1986 as the holding company for The Southern New England Telephone Company. Prior to 1986, The Southern New England Telephone Company had been a minority holding of AT&T until February 1986, when AT&T withdrew its 23% holding...
in 1997, approximately one year later SNET merged with SBC Communications. It continued as a separate operating company of Southern New England Telephone and at the time of its merger was the 75th largest independent telephone carrier in the United States.
On June 1, 2007, the company was dissolved and merged all assets and operations into Southern New England Telephone. At the time of the merger the company had 19,000 lines.
History
Woodbury Telephone began operation in the 1870s when a local businessman, Mr. Charles A. Stone visited the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition 1876 and realized the value of connecting his grain and feed store to the Southbury Railroad Station via the telephone. The company grew modestly and was incorporated in 1910 with Arthur D. Warner as its first President. The company continued in operation and upgraded from a manual switchboard to a direct dial system in 1955. As the service area grew considerably in the 1970s and 1980s the company deployed digital switching, fiber optic network architecture and in the 1990s it successfully introduced internet service with broadband access.Other historical notes
- Woodbury Telephone was the only local telephone operating company SBC/AT&T owned that had no roots in the original AT&T or Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
. - There were five other independent telephone companies that served parts of Connecticut and were bought by SNET: Lebanon (1912), East Haven (1925), Collinsville (1939), Sharon (1943) and Huntington (1948).