Honolulu County HI Archives Biographies.....Balch, John Adrian August 6, 1876 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 19, 2018, 11:03 pm Source: Men of Hawaii Vol. IV Author: George F. Nellist (editor) Balch, John Adrian: President, Mutual Telephone Co. Born San Francisco, Cal., Aug 6, 1876, son of Daniel Webster Balch and Nellie Dingle (Holmes) Balch, daughter of John Dingle, Mrs. Balch having taken the name of her stepfather upon her widowed mother’s marriage. Daniel Webster Balch was a California pioneer and a prominent mining engineer. This brunch of the Balch family was established in America by John Balch, who came from Horton, Somerset County. England, arriving at Wetssegusset (now known as Weymouth, Mass.) in September, 1623. John Adrian Balch received his education in the public schools of San Francisco and began his career under the direction of his father, working at the Texas Consolidated Mines, Shasta County, Cal. Subsequently Mr. Balch was in turn chemist, assistant superintendent and superintendent for the Mountain Copper Co. at Keswick and Martinez, Cal. Another phase in his varied experience in mining was in connection with the discovery and location of calcium phosphate beds throughout the states of Arizona, Washington, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming. Mr. Balch definitely abandoned his mining career upon His arrival at Honolulu, March 15, 1907, turning his attention to the development of the Territory’s wireless telegraph and telephone system. In June of that year he was associated with C. J. Hutchins and others in the purchase of the Wireless Telegraph Co., operating between the Islands, the purchase price being $50,000. Mr. Balch became vice-president and manager of the company, proceeding to reorganize and improve the system with the vigor and efficiency that are characteristic of his methods. He erected In 1907-09 the first Hawaiian ship-to-shore radio station at Kahuku Point, Oahu. It was in 1909 also that he assisted in effecting the amalgamation of the Wireless Telegraph Co. and the Mutual Telephone Co. He was elected vice-president, of the last mentioned organization on Oct. 12, 1909, and on May 18, 1911, he became its treasurer and executive officer of the board of directors, he was elected president of the company in March, 1926. Under his direction the Mutual Telephone Co. acquired a controlling interest In the Hilo Telephone Co. and the Hamakua and South Kohala Telephone Co., and these were consolidated with the Hawaii Telephone Co., a subsidiary of the Mutual Telephone Co., in 1913, The purchase by the latter company of a controlling interest in the Maui Telephone Co. followed In 191S, while In 1928 the Kauai Telephone Co. was likewise purchased. The finances of the company have also engrossed a considerable share of Mr. Batch's attention throughout his entire connection with its administration, while its systematic development and steady growth are likewise in a Very considerable measure the result of his skillful conduct of the company's affairs. From a system comprising about 1,200 telephones the organization has grown until in 1930 the 25,000 mark was reached, while the plant, itself is rated as one of the most, modern in the world. A further realization of Mr. Balch's dreams and plans of the twenty odd years during which he has been associated with the telephone industry will be the inauguration in December, 1921, of the Hawaii-Mainland and Inter-Island radio telephone services, through which it will be possible to telephone directly from any telephone in the Territory of Hawaii to any other telephone within the Territory, no matter on which island it is situated, and also from any of these island telephones to any other telephone on the mainland of the United States, Dominion of Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Europe, and at a later date, as the service is further developed, to Japan, the Orient and Australia. This realization of I a great ambition was brought about primarily by a visit by Mr. Balch in behalf of his company to New York and Washington during the Spring of 1930, when he negotiated an agreement with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in which that company agreed to establish a radio telephone station in California to operate a commercial service between the mainland of the United States and the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiian end or the service to be operated under the terms of a second agreement between the Radio Corporation of America and the Mutual Telephone Co. whereby these two organizations collaborated, the Radio Corporation of America agreeing to establish and operate the necessary antennae and transmitters to be located at their transmitting station at Kakuku, Oahu, as well as the necessary antennae and receivers to be located at their receiving station at Koko Head, Oahu, and the Mutual Telephone Co. agreeing to provide the necessary wire tone channels between these points and its long distance operating exchange at Honolulu, at which point the Mutual Telephone Co. will also install and operate the necessary voice frequency and speech inverter equipment, as well as attend to the distribution, accounting and collections necessary for the Hawaii terminal and its two associated companies in this service. During this visit to New York. Mr. Balch also arranged for the construction of tie necessary apparatus to complete his inter-island radio telephone system, Through experimenting, he had definitely established that such an inter-island radio telephone service was possible, utilizing a heretofore unused hand of ultra-high frequencies and operating these stations from the tops of mountains offering a clear, unobstructed vision to the different islands of the group. The Radio Corporation of America signed a contract for the construction of the necessary eight transmitting and eight receiving sets embodying the results of these Hawaiian experiments. It is expected that this inter-island radio telephone project will be open for operation simultaneously with tile Coast-Hawaii radio telephone system. During the World War Mr. Balch served as chairman of the district draft hoard for the Territory from October 16, 1917, until June 4. 1918, then resigning to accept a commission as lieutenant in the U. S. Naval Reserve. He served as District Radio Superintendent, of the 14th Naval District, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from June 5, 1918, until Feb. 28, 1919. Mr. Balch is a member of the Engineering Association of Hawaii, the Institute of Radio Engineers; the Pacific Club and the Pearl Harbor Yacht Club. His favorite recreations are yachting and fishing, He was married at San Francisco, Cal., May 11, 1909, to Helen Bae Skelly, daughter of Patrick Cline Skelly, a mining engineer of San Jose, Cal Mr. and Mrs. Balch are the parents or three children, two sons and a daughter, Adrienne Balch, John Bernard Balch, and Richard Skelly Balch. 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