1

Old telephone exchange
1908
Bentley Museum, Bentley Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

2

Telephone Girl

The telephone girl sits in her chair,
And listens to voices from everywhere,
She knows who is happy and who has the blues;
She knows all the gossip, she knows all the news;
She knows our sorrows, she knows our joy;
She knows the girls who are playing with toys;
She knows every time we are out with the boys.,
She knows the excuse, each fellow employs;
She knows our trouble, she knows our strife;
She knows the man, who is mean to his wife.
If the telephone girl should tell all she knows,
It would turn our friends into bitterest foes.
She could sow a wind that would soon be a gale,
Engulf us in trouble and land us in jail
She could get our churches mixed in a fight,
She could start a story which gaining in force,
Would cause many wives to sue for divorce;
She could turn our day into sorrowing night.
In fact she could keep the town in a stew,
If she told one-tenth of the things she knew.
Gee! Doesn’t it make your head just whirl,
When you think what you owe to the telephone girl.

Author Unknown

3

BENTLEY TELEPHONE OFFICE
MURRAY STREET & WISCONSIN AVENUE
BUILT IN 1908
Telephone service became available in Bentley in 1908. A small building was built in front of the George Garries home on Murray St. & Wisconsin Ave. This housed the telephone exchange and was known as "Central". The first operator was Bessie Fields, widowed daugher of George Garries. If you wanted to phone someone, who was not on your line, you had to go through Central. Later the exchange moved to the former Merchant Building owned by Mr. Finch, on Murray St. & McPherson Ave.
The rural lines were owned by the people they served. Telephone wires were attached by insulators on the tops of tall poles or on fence lines along road allowances. The cost for rural lines during the depression could be as cheap as two dollars per year. As many as twenty-three homes have been known to be connected on one line.
In order to phone neighbours on your line, you would not have to go through Central, as each farm had its own combination of rings using short or long "cranks" of the handle. One extra long ring would signal an emergency or announcement of a social gathering. Everyone would be alerted to listen in. "Rubbering" or listening in on someone else's converesation was a common occurence. Later the telephone exchange was moved to 4917 McPherson Ave., where it remained until the system was automated in the late 1960's.

4

First Telephone Office built in 1908
Early 1900's
Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

5

Old telephones
Early 1900's
Bentley Museum, Bentley Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

6

An old wall telephone
1940's and 50's
Bentley Museum, Bentley Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

7

A ham radio station and operator
2005
Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

8

Bentley Post office and Postmasters

The following information was supplied by the Archives of Canada - Postal History
Name Date of Appointment Dare of Vacancy Cause of vacancy
W.B. McPherson 1900-04-01 1902-09-25 Resignation
A.D. Cook 1903-01-01 1904-08-02 Resignation
Charles A. Putland 1904-10-01 1912-07-08 Dismissal, political
Partisanship
George Hopkins 1912-07-31 1930-05-02 Resignation
Edgar M. Dyson 1930-08-30 1945-06-17 Resignation
Miss. Lily Blanche 1945-09-01 Acting
Blish
James M. Drinnan 1947-04-01 1947-08-20 Death
Mrs W.A. Kelso 1947-08-21 Acting
Miss. Lily Blanche 1947-09-06 Acting
Blish
Wilfred Laurier 1948-04-15 1970-10-30 Retirement
Thorp
Mrs. R.L. Bishop 1970-10-31 1972-11-17 Transferred Stettler
Mrs. Julienne E. 1972-11-18 Acting
Potter
R.D. Hanrahan 1993-07-17 Retirement

On Friday, March 26, 1993 the post office completed its last day of business and since then the Canada Post retail outlet reopened in the Bentley Drug Store. Canada Post has a contract with the Drug Store and pays them for the service they provide as well as a commission on the stamps they sell. The postal boxes at the original post office remain open and the ninety general delivery patrons were supplied with a box. In 1993 there were four hundred and twenty-two boxes and at present 2010 there are approximately nine hundred and fifty boxes and two hundred and ten rural route boxes.
When the retail outlet moved to the Bentley Drug Store, Canada Post hired a contractor to sort the mail at the old site. Parcels and trace mail are carded and the contractor hauls them to the drug store where the patrons can pick them up. The present contractor or mail sorter is Paulette Morash and the present rural route contractor is Natasha Budy.

9

Monkey Top Saloon & Canada Post building - 2005
2005
Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

10

Bentley Post Office
2005
Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society