MADE IN HAMILTON
19TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 2
BELL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE, 1890

This well-preserved Renaissance Revival building, erected in 1890, was designed by prominent local architect James Balfour to house the Bell Telephone Company's modern new telephone exchange. The nerve-centre of this new building was its large second floor operating room. Here, about twenty "young lady operators" busily routed calls through the company's modern multiple magneto switchboard. Originally, boys had been employed to handle the calls, but they were found to be too quick-tempered and rude. To improve its public image, Bell soon started hiring women to operate the system. Known as the "Hello Girls", these operators supposed innate "courtesy", "patience" and "skillful hands" were considered key qualities for the job.

Hamilton became home to the first telephone exchange in the British Empire in 1878. The company's first Hamilton office had operated out of four cramped rooms on the top floor of the Hamilton Provident and Loan building at the corner of King and Hughson streets.

In 1913, Bell moved into the large new Regent Exchange around the corner. Canadian Canners Ltd. used the original exchange building for its offices for a number of decades after 1919. In the late 1990s, it has become home to the Hamilton offices of the Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), who have preserved the building.

Bell's 1913 Regent Exchange building still stands at 8 Main Street East. To handle dial telephone calls, Bell constructed the Baker Exchange at 17 Jackson Street West in 1929. This building has since been enlarged and is still used by the company. Hamilton's first female operators were the Misses Minnie and Beulah Howell, who started taking calls in 1880.