Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Meister Road Telephone Exchange – May 2, 1956

One of the things I remember as a kid growing up on E. Skyline Drive was seeing the little brick building at the intersection of Meister Road and Leavitt Road. Was it a house? Did someone live there? Why did the windows look so funny?

That’s it at the top of this post as it looks today, as seen from Leavitt Road.

Of course, I later learned it had something to do with the Lorain Telephone Company. Specifically, it was an exchange, and back in the late 1950s it enabled the company to handle the increasing demands of both residents and businesses on the western edge of Lorain, which was growing in leaps and bounds. 

It went into service on May 6, 1956, with this informative ad appearing in the Lorain Journal four days earlier on May 2nd.

Over the years, the building was expanded into the sprawling structure it is today. Here’s a Google Maps view. Note that the original entrance was relocated as a result of the remodeling.
At least they made it pretty symmetrical.
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I wrote about this building before. This 2013 post showed it under construction in January 1956. 
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2 comments:

  1. alexMay 4, 2021 at 1:33 PM

    Id love to see the inside of this building. As a phone guy learning the old technology while changing it out to the new technology, these old exchanges are fascinating. My grandparents lived down meister and we'd pass this every time.

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  2. LHS Blazer ManMay 5, 2021 at 1:06 PM

    I love the Lorain Telephone Company. When I was in junior high school at Irving, the then president (and school board member) Milton Tomasek, lent an operator's headset to me to use as a prop for a school talent show. I had chosen to perform Bob Newhart's comedy routine, "The Khrushchev Landing," about a flustered TV director trying to rehearse the arrival of the Soviet premier for his first visit to the United States.

    I couldn't have made it believable without the help of The Lorain Telephone Company!

    https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/pictured-actorcomedian-bob-newhart-in-the-1960s-picture-id182996733

    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YUck4Q2_orQ/mqdefault.jpg

    ReplyDelete