Pictured here in 1910 is the office of the Southwestern Telephone and Telegraph Company at 404 1/2 Front Street in Newport. The operator was Maude Dunham. The first Newport telephone company started in 1885 as the White River Telephone Company with C.R. Hite as manager, and the exchange was located in the office of Lancelot Minor on Walnut Street.
From Watson, Tim, and Elizabeth Jacoway. Newport and Jackson County. Arcadia Publishing, 2016