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Wellman Cooperative Telephone Association
A Brief History:
- Early 1900's - Beginnings of the Company:
- Wellman Mutual Telephone Company was formed, a switchboard was purchased, at a cost of $260, and drops were run to subscribers' homes. The rural areas gradually were served through "switcher lines", which were owned by the rural subscribers. These switcher lines were governed by their own board of directors and were responsible for collecting funds and paying Wellman Mutual for the switching of their calls.
- 1958 - Conversion to Dial:
- Wellman Mutual Telephone Company and the independent switcher lines formed the Wellman Cooperative Telephone Association, and began the task of converting to dial service and upgrading the rural cable plant.
- 1973-74 - Single Party, Buried Cable:
- The aerial plant was replaced with buried cable and party lines were eliminated.
- 1981 - Digital Switching:
- The Stromberg-Carlson XY switch was replaced by a digital central office, providing for growth, improved quality of service, and advanced services including custom calling features.
- 1980's :
- Filled buried cable was introduced to gradually replace the existing air core cable which is damaged by moisture over time.
- A sales organization, WKIJ, was formed to provide equipment sales and maintenance to Wellman and the surrounding communities.
- Mobile telephone and wide area paging services were offered.
- An all-digital toll connection was established to US West.
- The company joined in establishing Iowa Network Services, which made possible the offering of long distance equal access to the Wellman subscribers.
- 1994- Fiber Optics:
- Wellman and 3 neighboring companies joined to install a fiber optic toll route between the companies and to INS.
- 1995 - Second generation digital switch:
- In order to provide advanced services such as SS7 signaling and caller ID services, the digital switch installed in 1981 was replaced with a state of the art digital switching system.
- Today:
- Wellman Cooperative Telephone Association serves approximately 1,200 subscribers in the Wellman area, including portions of Washington, Johnson, Iowa, and Keokuk counties, offering features comparable to those of any metropolitan area along with the personal service one would expect from a small town company.
The Town of Wellman, Iowa
The town of Wellman is located in southeastern Iowa, in the northwest corner of Washington County, and has a population of approximately 1,125. The town is served by its own volunteer ambulance service and volunteer fire department, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1993. Enhanced 911 service is available in the entire area.
Two municipal parks are within the city limits - The North Park provides recreational facilities including lighted tennis courts, lighted baseball diamonds, playground facilities, and a band shelter. The South Park is located along the "Smith Creek" waterway and is used extensively for horse shows and various entertainment programs. The beautiful English River winds its way just north of Wellman and provides for an abundance of sightseeing, hiking, canoeing and bird watching.
Fine educational facilities in the area include Mid Prairie High School and Elementary, located in Wellman, Iowa Mennonite High School, located a few miles northeast of Wellman, the University of Iowa and University of Iowa Hospitals - 25 miles away in Iowa City, and Kirkwood College, located in Cedar Rapids and with a sattelite center 16 miles away in Washington.
In short, Wellman offers tree lined streets, attractive, affordable housing, clean country living, educational and recreational opportunities, close proximity to higher learning facilities and scenic attractions, and, of course, first rate telephone service.
wellman@netins.net
most recent revision 4/18/96
