Southern Bell Telephone Company

We, as a group of students living in Macon, Georgia, were unaware of our town’s numerous contributions to United States history.  As a class, we are discussing the importance of Henry Grady’s vision for the “New South”, which was the industrialization of the region after African American slaves had recently been freed after the Civil War.  Grady wanted the South to move away from agriculture and become industrialized like the North.  Our teacher assigned a project in which we were given a business or invention that was brought to Macon during this time, and we had to conclude if it lived up to Grady’s “New South” ideal.  Our group was assigned the Southern Bell Telephone Company, which is located in present day downtown Macon on the corner of Poplar and 2nd Street.  As we dug through the history of this business through The Macon Telegraph, we found that it was responsible for many economic advances as well as technological innovations.         

The Southern Bell Telephone Company always strived for growth and efficiency.  The company managed to grow throughout the South from extending their phone lines out across Georgia.  In 1896, they began placing their telephone lines underground and worked to make long distance calling possible (“All Wires Underground”).  They managed to secure a line that stretched from Macon to Americus and allowed more people to get and stay connected.  The innovations and advances didn’t stop there, Southern Bell kept working harder to become the main provider of communication in Georgia.  They began to think of more efficient ways for the operators to connect calls in their centers.  The answer was found in a new switch board (“An Improved System”).  Often times callers forgot to call the operators after their phone call was complete, and this would leave the operator to think that the wire was still occupied and could not be used.  The new board allowed callers to simply hang their phones up on the hook after they were done, and a light would signal to the operator that the call was finished.  This change led to an increase in the number of calls that a center could take in one day, which began to grow the business even larger.  With the installment or the new board, jobs were created to help install the board and make sure it is installed properly, providing work for people who did not have a steady job. The jobs, though temporary, helped build the economy in Macon because the people who installed the new board were able to make money to provide for their families when before they were not able to.

Southern Bell Telephone Company continued to grow as a business and grew throughout the South.  One of the main reasons they were able to be so successful was attributed to horizontal combination (“Southern Bell’s Extension”).  Horizontal combination is the buying out of smaller businesses and taking them under your management or either closing them completely.  By using horizontal combination, Southern Bell was able to ensure that they would never have another company large enough to challenge their business.  This led even more customers into the arms of Southern Bell, contin their cycle of economic growth.  

As our group researched the Southern Bell Telephone Company and their journey trying to reach for industrial success, we had to ask ourselves the question: did they live up to Grady’s “New South” idea?  After taking into consideration their smart moves through horizontal combination and their advances in technology and strive for efficiency, we believe this Southern company achieve this ideal.  Southern Bell was able to industrialize the telephone company, and the company benefited from this industrialization as well as the people that were now able to stay connected throughout the South.

As a group, we traveled to downtown Macon to find the building that the Southern Bell Company occupied.  It is in great architectural condition and is still being used today, but no longer by a telephone company. It is, however, still referred to as the Southern Bell building. Even though the building is no longer occupied by Southern Bell, it is an iconic piece of Macon’s history, and the prosperity that Southern Bell helped bring to Macon is what makes this building so important to Macon’s history.  

Works Cited

“All Wires Underground.” Macon Telegraph [Macon] 26 September 1896:  6. Georgia Historic Newspapers. Web. 15 February 2015. <http://telegraph.galileo.usg.edu/telegraph/view?docId=news/mdt1896/mdt1896-0754.xml&query=Southern Bell telephone companies &brand=telegraph-brand.>

“An Improved System.” Macon Telegraph [Macon] 11 October 1898: 8. Georgia Historic Newspapers. Web. 15 February 2015. <http://telegraph.galileo.usg.edu/telegraph/view?docId=news/mdt1898/mdt1898-2456.xml&query=Southern Bell telephone companies &brand=telegraph-brand.>

“Southern Bell’s Extension.” Macon Telegraph [Macon] 23 November 1902: 1. Georgia Historic Newspapers. Web. 15 February 2015. <http://telegraph.galileo.usg.edu/telegraph/view?docId=news/mdt1902/mdt1902-1337.xml&query=Southern Bell telephone companies &brand=telegraph-brand.>

"Southern Bell Telephone Photo Slideshow." Our State Magazine. Mann Media, 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2015.<https://www.ourstate.com/telephone-history/>