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Remember When: Kirn home razed for Telephone Dial Service

JOYCE HARVEY | CORRESPONDENT | 4:12 pm EDT August 23, 2020

There is a generation today who does not remember ever “dialing” a phone. Does anyone remember placing a telephone call through an operator who sat at a switchboard and actually placed your call for you? That was how it was done here in 1939.  The Ohio Bell Telephone Co., however, was thinking ahead and planning for Lancaster to acquire a new “telephone dial service.” Knowing a new building would be needed, they purchased the Jacob H. Kirn property at 140 W. Wheeling St. in 1939 (25 April 1939 E-G).

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This sketch of the Kirn house appeared in the Daily Eagle May 7, 1901. After the brick house's foundation settled over several years, a Columbus contractor was able to save it by lifting the house and laying a new foundation. It stood at 140 W. Wheeling until razed for new phone company building.

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The Kirn house appeared on the 1889 Sanborn Map, and the 1900 Census lists Jacob H. Kirn and his wife Elizabeth with eight children living at 140 W. Wheeling. A sketch  appeared in 1901 (7 May Daily Eagle) showing the house undergoing major repair. The foundation had been settling for several years and finally became unsafe, forcing the family to leave the home. Kirn was afraid his “large, two story, 16 room brick residence” would have to be torn down. Contractor P. B. Gould “an experienced house raiser and mover” from Columbus took the job and saved the house. “This job has no parallel in Lancaster and is the first brick house ever so manipulated here,” reported the Daily Eagle.

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Jacob H. Kirn, a baker, was in charge of the baking department of the Andy Bauman grocery and bakery located on W. Main St. for about 45 years. He retired before his death in 1920. His widow lived in the house until her death in 1932. Their son Edward G. Kirn lived in the house until his death in 1938.

The architect's sketch of the proposed Ohio Bell Telephone Co. at 140 W. Wheeling St. appeared in the E-G July 16, 1954. Today, Ohio Bell Telephone Co. owns the building and it looks just the same.

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Harry F. Calkins, local commercial manager for Ohio Bell, explained in an article (25 Sept 1940 E-G) that the new dial system would require a new building and cost about $400,000. It would take two to three years to gather information, build a building, manufacture and install the apparatus, and finally switch Lancaster’s 5000 phones to dial phones.

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An article appeared in the E-G (6 Oct 1942) stating WWII had caused a suspension of Ohio Bell’s plans to construct a new building on the lot. It also stated that a wrecking crew would start tearing down the iron fence on the former Kirn property so that it could be donated to the city’s “Victory Pile of Scrap” for the war effort. In addition to the large brick house there was also  a smaller dwelling, a barn, the Otis Knotts’ restaurant along Center Alley, an icehouse, and a summer kitchen on the Kirn lot to be razed.

With a new building “indefinitely delayed” the city asked Ohio Bell to allow them to use the empty lot for parking. It would help with regular traffic but also would help considerably in handling excess automobiles expected here during Lancaster’s 150th anniversary celebration. An emergency ordinance was passed by city council on March 13, 1950 allowing the city to lease the lot for parking. It opened July 24, 1950.

Four years later, the city was asked to vacate the lot when Ohio Bell announced construction on their new building would begin soon (18 Feb 1954 E-G). The new dial system was expected to be completed by the fall of 1956. The architect’s drawing of the new building appeared in the newspaper on July 16, 1954. The two-story building with basement would house the dial equipment, new long distance switchboards, operators’ quarters and testing equipment.

“A year from today, Oct. 7, 1956, dial telephone service will be inaugurated in Lancaster,” was the news on the front page Oct. 7, 1955. “When dial service begins…it will be patterned after the Bell System’s nation-wide numbering plan. They consist of an exchange name and number, followed by the four figures of the telephone number. The new exchange names and numbers for Lancaster will be OLive 3 and OLive 4. For example, a new telephone number here might be OLive 3-6789.” The new system would also mean local telephone subscribers could direct dial long distance calls themselves  to many cities across the country.