Lightening Underfoot!

The West River Telephone Exchange opened in 1907 with 15 customers.  

Martha Welch was the Operator.  The Switchboard was in her home.  

In 1909 Martha Welch's daughter Martha Wayson became Operator.  She built an addition on her house to accommodate the ever larger switchboard.  

Irene Wayson, Martha's daughter-in-law, worked shifts at the switchboard:

    “All the young women in the village worked there at one time or another.

There were two operators on duty during the day.  Martha had the night shift.  We sat on benches.  

    "Big cables with telephone wires passed under our feet feeding lines into the switchboard which stood in front of us.  It was about 9 feet wide - you couldn’t see over it when you stood up.  It was a ‘drop’ system:  if someone was ringing the operator, the cord plugged into their socket would ‘drop’ out.

    "If a lightening storm hit some part of the district, the drops connected to the houses in that part would all drop out at once.  We’d have to scramble to put them all back quickly in case someone was trying to make a call.  Meanwhile the lightening would be running around the floor right under our feet, following the wires into the switchboard. 

   "It didn’t hurt us because we were grounded, but it didn’t feel too good either seeing that lightening running around the room!” (Irene Wayson)

West River Telephone Exchange 1940 (Doris Phibbons photo)

By 1926 there were 400 telephone customers in West River.

In 1931 the telephone company built a new house for the Switchboard.

Essie Hardesty became Operator and moved in with her family in 1933.

In 1947, modern dial equipment put the Switchboard out of business.  

The switchboard room was turned into the Post Office, and Essie became the 18th West River Postmaster, the first woman to hold the job.

William Peake's Moment

During the 1860's everyone wanted a house by William Peake Jr. 
He was the contractor of choice in the West River Country.

Peake was born in Owensville in 1837, the third of 13 children.  He attended school at the local Classical Institute.  

He became an accomplished carpenter, but more than that, he appears to have been fascinated by new trends in architecture as shown in published pattern books, such as "Villas and Cottages" by Calvert Vaux. 

In order to jumpstart his career, Peake did something clever.

He introduced the new styles to Owensville by building a stylish house for himself.  

His house featured five cross gables with enclosed Gothic arched windows, Gingerbread trim along the gable eaves, and a full width porch encasing a projecting front bay.  

William Peake's own house built c1865 

At about this same time, a proposed new rail line through West River caused a flurry of land investment and building activity.  Peake, functioning as a designer and general contractor, began rolling out new houses with Gothic Revival and Italianate flare.  Singlehandedly he changed the architectural face of the West River neighborhood.

But William Peake's moment in the sun was short lived.  Forces outside his control crushed him.  

The Financial Panic of 1873 ended hopes for the Baltimore to Drum Point Rail Line.  

After the Civil War, without slave labor, farmland lay fallow and incomes plummeted.  

There were bank failures and a second Financial Panic in 1893.  

Many in Owensville moved to Baltimore in search of work.

Wm Henry Peake Jr (1913)

   Peake's last documented job was the GrandStand at the Marlboro Fair Grounds in 1893.

   By 1897 he had lost his beloved house in Owensville and joined the exodus to Baltimore.  He lived in rental properties with his son's family, and worked on and off at carpentry.  

   After 1910 he and his wife Jennie retired to a small dwelling in Galesville, an addition to the home of her sister Carrie Weedon. 

   William died in 1920, but his picturesque stylish houses live on:

Ashland, built for William Hill 1867

Quarter Place, for Augustus Hall 1860's

Tamarack Hill, for Nathaniel Chew 1867

Farmhouse updated 1864 for James Owens 

Village house completed by 1870 for Hank Owens