Sept. 1952 – Lorain Telephone Open House

Yesterday I posted an article from September 1950 about a house on Ninth Street that was being demolished to make room for the new Lorain Telephone Co. headquarters building.

Well, here's the ad announcing that the new building was finished, and ready for inspection by the general public in a series of Open Houses. The ad ran in the Sunday, August 31, 1952 edition of the Lorain Sunday News.

I always liked this building. I only remember going in there a few times, but I've always thought it was a modern, attractive building – and it still is as the local offices of CenturyLink (below).

Seeing this building makes me nostalgic for the days before the breakup of the Bell System.

Early 1960s Lorain Telephone
advertising mascot

Back then, your local phone company was the only phone company you needed, and you didn't have to make all these decisions about who you wanted to provide that service.

I still like my land line and will probably never get rid of it. It's dependable, it works during a power outage, and I believe the sound quality is still superior to that of getting your phone service though the internet or cable TV lines.

Call me a Luddite, but I also hate the complexity that carrying a phone around brings to my life. It far outweighs any advantages to me. And I shudder to think how many times I pass a slow-moving car in the fast lane on I-90 driven by someone yakking on the phone, waving their hands around, and totally oblivious to the world around them.