In 1898, R.J. Durrett acquired the phone service from owners E.C. Price and Mr. Voight. Durrett was the first president of the company. He was joined by B.G. Neighbors as vice president and W.H. Hardy as secretary-treasurer. The first telephone directory was published in 1899 and was used as a model by area phone companies.
Frank C. Smith bought the company in 1903. In the next seven years, the company changed hands four times. One of the problems was competition with another phone company in town, the predecessor to Southwestern Bell, Southwest Telephone & Telegraph. The low rates charged by San Marcos' telephone company did not provide enough revenue for satisfactory service, much less to replace worn out equipment, so many subscribers switched to the other company.
In 1910, San Marcos native Merton Swift returned from Sabinal to manage the ailing company, which was located on the square above the B. Dailey store. Fifteen men joined him with $20,000 capital stock. G.G. Johnson was elected president, and by 1919 the local telephone company was healthy enough to absorb the local Bell exchange. The G. W. Donalson family gained controlling interest in 1927. Construction for a "modern fire-proof building" was planned and a lot on West San Antonio Street (across the street from the current Customer Service Center) was purchased for $2,500. A total of $25,000 was spent for the 1928 pink stucco building and the equipment that it housed. There were 17 people on payroll in 1936, and all but four of them had been there for 10-25 years. W.P. Donalson (G.W.'s son) became president and major stockholder.
 This photo of telephone operators was taken in 1949 on the day H.Y. Price, Jr. purchased the San Marcos Telephone Company. |
The company, known as the San Marcos Telephone Company, was purchased in 1949 from the heirs of G.W. Donalson by a group of investors, represented by H.Y. Price, Jr. The investors gave Price the option to buy, which he did, shortly after he became president.
When Price acquired the company, it served 1,420 telephones, 250 of which were out of order. The Austin office of Southwestern Bell helped in a November clean-up campaign which cleared 305 trouble calls and put all telephones back in service.Price was no stranger to telephony, for he had grown up working in his father's phone company, which had been established in Evant, Texas in 1898. That company served towns in Lampasas, Coryell, Mills and Hamilton counties. In the 27 years that he was president of the San Marcos Telephone Company, Price reached many milestones. Direct local dialing was introduced in 1955, and a new central office building was constructed at 200 South Guadalupe Street to house the additional equipment. The company was the first in the nation to offer direct dial Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) in 1963. In 1967, direct long distance dialing was introduced, and telephones were installed in each residence hall at Southwest Texas State University. The company was also the first in the nation to develop cost-effective, computerized operator consoles and a long distance ticketing system to replace the plug-in, cord switchboards in 1973. In 1986, telephone company employees developed new operator consoles that were compatible with the company's digital switching system.
Century Telephone Enterprises is the 16th largest local exchange telephone company in the United States. Headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, Century provides high-quality service to more than 486,500 telephone customers in 14 states and more than 307,000 cellular subscribers in six states. The company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CTL. The company's service area extends from southern Louisiana to the Great Lakes region and over to the southwestern United States.
Century Telecommunications, Inc., a subsidiary based in San Marcos, provides long distance, operator and information services on a regional and nationwide basis.
located at 133 W. San Antonio St. |
at 208 S. Guadalupe St. |
