Frank S. Milburn was a small business owner in Boone County just before the start of World War II, when he built his unassuming machine shop in Burlington in 1938. In the immediate postwar years, as the nation transitioned its economy and infrastructure to a new reality, Milburn, and many others in rural Boone County, found themselves without reliable telephone service.
While the majority of people today walk around with phones in their back pockets, it is worth remembering that the expansion of telephone service to rural communities had an impact similar to that of rural electrification begun by the Roosevelt administration in the 1930s.
At the time, nagging, persistent problems with rural phone service included: poor switchboard connections; over-populated party lines (some with as many as 11 parties on one line); confusing and indistinguishable rings on those party lines; telephone poles and lines poorly maintained; and, when downed during storms, poles and lines that were inadequately or never repaired.
These problems not only interfered with citizens like Milburn, who were trying to maintain or grow a business, it also created worries for Boone Countians with sick family members, for those wanting to work who missed calls related to jobs, and caused discomfort and conflict among neighbors uncomfortable with communicating their private business over a shared party line.
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(ABOVE:) A Telephone for Your Farm, brochure, U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Rural Electrification Administration, selected pages, May 1950
True to his reputation as a problem-solver and advocate for everyday citizens, Frank Milburn led a campaign of local leaders, including Judge Executive Carroll L. Cropper, banker A. B. Renaker, and others, to pressure the Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) to do better for their community. This effort began in earnest in the spring of 1948.
One highlight of the campaign, which lasted three years, included a call for testimonial letters from members of the community. Boone Countians were asked to write letters to Milburn, Cropper, and Renaker, to share their experiences with the persistently poor phone service.
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(ABOVE:) Testimonial letters, E. H. Beaman and Orville Y. Kelly, Burlington, Ky., August 1948.
A second highlight of the advocacy campaign was to enlist members of the Dixie Camera Club, a photography enthusiasts club started by Milburn, to act as volunteer photo journalists, taking pictures of the many telephone poles and lines in disrepair around the county. The photographs were shared with local newspapers, putting additional pressure on the owners of the CTC.
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(LEFT:) Telephone poles and lines in Boone County after a storm, taken by Dixie Camera Club, summer 1948.
(RIGHT:) Consolidated Telephone Company, directory, Fitzgerald Collection, December 1958
After several years and many phases, the campaign ultimately was successful. By 1951, the Kentucky Public Services Commission (KPSC) required the company to make significant improvements in the area, and also to revise their proposed rate increases.
Interested readers can find this interesting local story covered in great detail in Matt Becher’s 2006 article on Frank Milburn in Northern Kentucky Heritage magazine (see pages 13-14).
For more information about Frank S Milburn, check out other blogs in the series:
And Now For a Special Announcement:
BCPL’s Archive & History Center is pleased to announce that a dedication ceremony will be held in downtown Burlington on Thursday, October 3 @ 3:00 p.m., to celebrate the placement of a historical marker remembering Frank Sinton Milburn, (1910-1984). The marker, sponsored by the Boone County Historical Society, is part of a statewide program of the Kentucky Historical Society. Join us at the Old Clerk’s Building, 2965 Gallatin Street (behind the Boone County Administration Building). Questions? Contact the History Center at 859-342-2665, or historycenterhelp@bcpl.org.
