General Timeline
1890 – Sarah Green purchased the building at 715 Main, known then as Independence Hall and named it “The Boonton Opera House”
1895 - Telephone company established in Boonton
The New York Telephone Company installed the first Boonton switchboard. One of the first to subscribe was John H. Brown, who had the easy number to remember “Boonton 1”. The cost per year was $42.00.
By 1900, 36 telephones were in use and by 1915, 758 phones over crowded the old switchboard.
In 1915, a three-minute long distance call could be made from Boonton to San Francisco at a cost of $20. By 1919, the same call would cost $16; by 1927, $9.