Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1898 — A Long Distance Telephone. [ARTICLE]

A Long Distance Telephone.

There is now a good prospect that Rensselaer will soon have another great modern convenieuce in the shape of a long distance telephone. The necessary consent of the Bell Telephone Company, owner of all the great long distance lines, has been secured, and the proposition now is to build a line from here to Hammond, where the long distance system will be connected with.

It is thought, and evidently with good reason, that such a line would especially be a great convenience to our business men, in communicating with Chicago firms. It is thought that the toll to Chicago, for a three minutes talk, could be placed at 35 cents. It is stated that every prominent city in the country can now be reached by the long distance lines. These lines are expensive to build and it is estimated that an investment of SIO,OOO would be required to build the line to Hammond and buy *the required telephones and other necessary outfit. Only one station between here and Hammond is contemplated, namely at Cedar Lake, where a large business could probably be done dujing the summer months. Messrs T. J. McCoy and Delos Thompson, of Rensselaer, and Henry Taylor, of Lafayette, are named as the parties who are working up the enterprise,