The First Telephone Line in the Province

The first telephone in the Yenisey Province appeared in Krasnoyarsk in 1891. It connected the first and second floors in the State bank. And two years later the telephone network appeared in the house of the famous merchant Gadalov. It connected his house, shops near psent Perenson and Parizhskoy Kommuny streets and the steamship pier. The city public network opened by the beginning of December 1897. By the end of December there were already 49 subscribers. The rules of the new network required the following: do not give telephones to others, do not talk about illegal and indecent things (“the subscribers themselves are responsible for this”).

By the way, in May 1898 it was informed about the first crime, pvented with the help of a telephone: the shop of the merchant Mitryukova was tunneled, but the robbery failed — the owners called the police.

At the city telephone station there was gender separation: men worked as mechanics, supervisors and repairmen, ladies were telephone operators. When subscribers span the telephone receiver, they got to the station to ladies, who listened to the number and connected — plugged cables to the necessary sockets on the switchboard. The “telephone ladies” most of all had to correspond the requirements: they communicate with decent people. They had to be young — 18-25 years old, educated — the whole course of female gymnasium, polite, with good and pleasant voice. Their height had to be over 165 cm, arm span — 175 cm in order to be able to reach the switchboard easily. They also had to be single — it was forbidden to be distracted from work. Those who got married, were immediately dismissed.

The girls were hired as the officials of lower rank. A working day was 10-12 hours long. A day off was once a month. It was forbidden to leave the working place during the shift. Hundreds of connections every day and night, awful noise around. But it was enviably paid — 30 ₽ a month, 80 ₽ per year for accommodation plus payed holidays and payment of sickness. And this was while a qualified worker before the revolution earned just 12 ₽  a month.

For a long time telephone connection was a luxury. And only at the eve of the First World War the first payphone was installed at the railway station. One could talk for five minutes for 10 kopecks.

Based on the materials by: krsk.kp.ru and trk7.ru