| Central Utah Communications
45 Center |
| Central Utah Telephone Inc. began its history in 1903, when Ezekial
Cheney, Elsberry Garlick, and Oscar Norman received a franchise on May
4, to construct a local telephone system. The Mountain States Telephone
and Telegraph company had installed telephone service in the community
of Mt. Pleasant six miles south of Fairview, but refused to bring service to
Fairview. The prospect of having telephone service in Fairview was very exciting.
However, only the more wealthy people could afford to have the service
installed and therefore the growth of the telephone system was quite slow
in the community. The first year there were only four telephones in use,
but during the next summer a telephone and light line was jointly
constructed by the telephone and electric light companies within the city
limits. Several telephones were installed in the homes and business houses
of the city during 1904. At one time the company had 220 telephones in
use.
The business has always been a family project. Different members of the family would take turns operating the magneto switchboard, installing crank type magneto phones, or building new open wire telephone lines. Iven R. Cox managed the business from 1940 until 1979. During these years Iven brought rotary dial service to the community and in 1961 incorporated the business as Central Utah Telephone, Inc. In 1979 Iven retired and his son I. Branch Cox and nephew Eddie L. Cox has managed the company to the present time. The spring of 1983 brought an interesting challenge to the company. A mountain literally slipped into the canyon at Thistle, blocking the river, completely inundating the tiny community and also the company's switching facility. The company worked around the clock to restore service to the company's subscribers and the growing number of construction companies. In 1985 the company's switching facilities were modernized and they upgraded the outside plant. In 1986 the rest of the company's switching facilities were upgraded to digital, bringing excellent service to our subscribers as well as all of the latest custom calling features. The outside plant facilities were also replaced or upgraded. The company prides itself in the construction of it's own facilities, from plowing in cable to installing subscriber carrier systems. They have the equipment and know-how to take care of almost any type of installation, and have often done work for other telephone companies in the state. December 29, 1989 the company purchased Skyline Telecom from All West Communications. In 1993 the company created a subsidiary company called Bear Lake Communications. On September 13, 1996, Skyline Telecom purchased the Eureka and Goshen exchanges from US West Communications. |
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