CELEBRATING 60 YEARS — Consolidated Telephone Company —
Although it only lasted an hour, the meeting held at 823 Maple Street in Brainerd changed the lives of thousands. It was May 19, 1950 when seven men joined for the first official meeting of the Crow Wing Cooperative Rural Telephone Company, which was later to become Consolidated Telephone Company. Prior to this first organizational meeting, the residents of rural Minnesota, and throughout rural America, did not have an option when it came to telephone service. Although the telephone had been invented decades earlier, for millions of U.S. residents getting service was only possible for those that lived in the city. The seven founding directors had the dream, and initiative, to create a telephone company to serve the rural areas in the Brained area, but now they had to share-and sell-that dream to the residents in those areas. Knocking on doors throughout the region, the directors worked to sell memberships in a company that at the time had no product, no service and no employees. Their work was obviously challenging.
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With the company established and offering service in some areas of their desired service territories, the directors made the decision to purchase smaller, existing telephone companies. The Motley Telephone Company, the Randall Telephone Company, Northland Rural Telephone Company, Rushbrook Rural Telephone Company, Midway Farmer’s Rural Telephone, Crooked Lake Township Telephone and many more companies scattered around the area. It was for this reason – the addition of so many telephone companies that it was decided to change the name of the company. A contest was initiated among the membership to rename the cooperative, the winner of which received one year of telephone service at no charge. The contest resulted in the selection of the name Consolidated Telephone Company – chosen to reflect the consolidation of the many small rural companies that made up the cooperative. When Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) was formed nearly fifty years ago there was no way that the founding board of direc-
tors had any idea of the vast changes that would take place in the telecommunications industry. Fortunately, they laid the groundwork for a company that continued to look forward, being able to take advantage of opportunities as they arose. The new millennium saw those technologies that just years earlier were merely luxury items, become everyday necessities. It is with the past 50 years of growth and change in mind that CTC looks to the future and celebrates the past. The success of the company would never have been possible without loyal customers, dedicated employees and forward-thinking board members. They are all elements behind the success of CTC and are what will make the company be a success in the decades to come.
2012 | generations in business
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