Did you know?
Those of us no longer of a “tender” age, can remember when the simple act of dialing a telephone in Uniontown required the knowledge of the word “Geneva.” Instead of remembering the numbers “43” at the beginning of telephone numbers, you might pick up your telephone and ask a live operator to dial “GEneva (or simply GE) — 7—.”
“Full Dial Operation For Phones Here By Fall,” said the headline on the front page of the Uniontown Evening Standard on March 30, 1954. The article explained that nationwide, central telephone offices were being given names, so that a more efficient system could be used in the ever-expanding home telephone market. Uniontown’s 15,000 telephones would be under the same exchange, designated “Geneva.”
While other local communities would have their own exchange names, Fairchance would have JOrdan; Smithfield, LOwell; Masontown, JUstice; McClellandtown, PErshing; and Smock would have OSborne.
It was also reported that all local telephone numbers would increase from four digits to five to accommodate the new change.
“At the present time, approximately 44 percent of all long-distance calls are dialed by operators, and it is expected in the future a great many long-distance calls will actually be dialed directly by telephone users themselves,” it was reported. More than a half century later, I’m wondering how many people reading this can even remember the last time they spoke to a telephone operator?
One thing I’d always been curious about (As you may know, curiosity is how I roll), why was Uniontown’s exchange named “Geneva?”
“Many factors have to be taken into consideration before a name can be chosen. And the Telephone company has tried in the past to select names that would please everyone,” that 1954 report said.
However, it didn’t specifically mention why Geneva was selected for Uniontown. It seems to have been more about the first two letters (“GE”) rather than the entire word.
Since there were an increasing amount of exchanges rapidly being included across the country, the unique sets of first letters (representing unique sets of two numbers) were employed. Of course, with any new innovation, there is always bound to be some anxiety and confusion.
Months after the original announcement, Walter “Buzz” Storey wrote about it in his daily column.
“Lot of people around town talking about the impending changeover to full dial telephone operation … not only within Uniontown and all over the city, but also connecting several other nearby towns,” he wrote.
He explained that some people were leery, but he also wrote (and with a wonderful flourish) that there was “No need to worry.”
“So you get Timbuktu or Last Chance Gulch the first couple of times you try it. You meet more interesting people that way!”
He added that after a few mis-dials, the new dialing system would be a snap.
Keeping with the “My How Things Have Changed” theme, I found a front-page picture of a woman driving a car in the March 1, 1907, edition of the Uniontown Morning Herald.
“Uniontown takes to motoring,” read the headline above that picture.
Below it, I found a rather interesting caption: “Eight years ago there was but one automobile in Uniontown, and it was probably the only machine in all of Fayette County — today there are at least 60 machines in the borough with 40 more on their way,” it said.
Many car dealerships, these days, have more cars on their lots than they had in all of Fayette County in 1907.
Still keeping with that “My How Things Have Changed” theme, the Uniontown News Standard reported on its sports page in its Oct. 11, 1937, edition, that each player for the World Series champs that season — the New York Yankees — had earned $5,836.84.
According to the online edition of the Baseball Almanac, the winners’ shares for the 2012 World Series champions — the San Francisco Giants — was $377,002.64 each. The Super Bowl winners’ shares for the Baltimore Ravens football team last season, by the way, was “only” $88,000.
Another of those things that have changed over the years is the reason there are “riots.”
“Mob takes possession of two principal streets in the heart of the city,” read a headline on the front page of the Feb. 21, 1907, edition of the Morning Herald.
There had been “mouth-to-mouth” talk on Main Street that a riot was about to take place on Morgantown Street.
“Hardly had the word been spoken when a rush was made by hundreds in order to obtain an advantageous spot from which the affray (a word I’d never seen before) could be witnessed,” said the report.
Suddenly, with every available police officer (some with “Sherlock Holmes instincts”) at the scene, and with several hundred onlookers, the words “There it is! There it is!” could be heard.
What was it? Well, “four men were discovered performing a duty which many of those in the large crowd had never seen before.”
The men had been dispatched to Morgantown Street to engage in the less-than-exciting task of street cleaning.