TELEPHONES AND TELEGRAPH COME TO SELMA.

The New Wyoming House Hotel - East Railroad St.
Although the local train station had telegraph facilities early in Selma’s history, the first evidence of a local telephone system is 1901 when the Selma correspondent to the Smithfield Herald complained in his column that poles and lines were in bad condition and were falling on streets and roads, tripping horses and hampering the movement of buggies by blocking roads. Thus it is apparent that the telephone lines had been up for some years prior to this date.
In 1900, according to Miss Blanche Mitchener, a line from Raleigh through Clayton connected with Selma, and the Wyoming Hotel was on this line. Mr. Ellis was in charge of the line here at first, followed by Miss Mann, Miss Essie King, and in 1905 Miss Blanche Mitchener, then by Mrs. Nannie Bailey and later by Mrs. Mozelle Bailey, who remained chief operator until the system was changed to dial. By 1905 Selma was a very important office for long lines, since every line had to be connected here. Until 1910 cutovers were made through the local switchboard; at that time AT&T moved its own crew and equipment to Selma because of the heavy load. Selma, New York, and Atlanta, Ga., were all classified as No. 1 offices. By 1932 AT&T had seven or eight men here and the local and long’ distance office had eight or ten girls at work. The dial system was installed in 1953; on January 20, Stacy Canady, president of the local Chamber of Commerce; placed the first call through the new system.
Mr. Norman Screws was in charge of the AT&T office in 1912. Others connected with the office at different times have been Messrs. john C. Diehl, Charlie W. Scales, Bernard Dubois, Howard Gaskill, James L. Mc Millan, J. S. Carty, and Ben Brantley. The AT&T office was discontinued about 1962.
From the History of Selma - Centennial Program.