April 9, 2025 Geri Duff
In 1884, Hingham had six telephone customers served out of the Quincy Switchboard. In 1894, a Central Office was opened at 63 South Street in Hingham to serve Hingham, Hull, and Cohasset with 23 phones in Hingham. Those phones had a hand crank to signal the operator to make a connection. In 1909 the Central Office was moved to 31 Central Street to served 200 subscribers out of the population of 5,000 residents in Hingham with the new model of telephone. When you picked up the phone, a light on the switch board would alert the operator who would ask you who you were calling and connect both of you through her switchboard. The building was later renumbered to #33 and many of us remember it as the Neville Dentist Office. This photograph comes from the Hingham Historical Society.
