Bell Telephone Company

For the Canadian telecommunications company, see Bell Canada. For other uses, see Bell Telephone (disambiguation).

Bell Telephone Company
Company typePublic
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedJuly 9, 1877; 147 years ago (1877-07-09)
Founders
Defunct1899
FateMerged assets with AT&T
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts

The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada.

The company was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard. A common law joint-stock company, the Bell Telephone Company was started on the basis of holding "potentially valuable patents", principally Bell's master telephone patent #174465.[2] Upon inception, Hubbard was installed as trustee, although he was additionally the company's de facto president, since he also controlled his daughter's shares by power of attorney. Thomas Sanders, its principal financial backer, was treasurer.[3] Hubbard also organize the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, the first local operating company to offer service using Bell's telephone.

Bell Telephone and New England Telephone merged on February 17, 1879, to form two new entities, the National Bell Telephone Company of Boston, and the International Bell Telephone Company. International Bell became headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.[4][5][6] Theodore Vail took over its operations, becoming a central figure in its rapid growth and commercial success.

The National Bell Telephone Company merged with American Speaking Telephone Company on March 20, 1880, to form the American Bell Telephone Company, also of Boston, Massachusetts.[7] The American Bell Telephone Company evolved into the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.

  1. ^ a b Bruce, Robert V. (1990) [1st pub. 1973]. Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-8014-9691-8.
  2. ^ Pizer 2009, pp. 123–124.
  3. ^ Pizer 2009, p. 127.
  4. ^ Huurdeman, Anton A. The Worldwide History Of Telecommunications, Wiley-IEEE, 2003, ISBN 0-471-20505-2, ISBN 978-0-471-20505-0, p. 179.
  5. ^ Stephen B. Adams, Orville R. Butler. Manufacturing The Future: A History Of Western Electric, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 49, ISBN 0-521-65118-2, ISBN 978-0-521-65118-9.
  6. ^ http://cf.collectorsweekly.com/stories/6xeKN4f.lkxuSPAUtAFSvQ-small.jpg Pizer 2009, pp. 119, 125.
  7. ^ Pizer 2009, p. 125.