Wood County, West Virginia - Biography: WILMER I. STEER ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** Transcribed by (MRS GINA M REASONER), 1999 WEST VIRGINIA In History, Life, Literature and Industry The Lewis Publishing Company 1928 - Volume 5, page 162,163,164 WILMER I. STEER. The true inventor of the first telephone was probably Philip Reis, who showed, in 1861, that variations in an electric current caused by vibrating membrane could reproduce the necessary vibrations. Reis in this way transmitted musical sounds, and even words, but his apparatus was imperfect, and it was left for Alexander Graham Bell to perfect that which is still commonly used and known as the Bell telephone, although it has been nearly the unanimous opinion of electricians that Bell's patent has been held by courts of law to cover more ground than is his due. As is not infrequently the case with a new invention, the public for a long time was exceedingly skeptical. As late as 1865 a certain citizen was placed under arrest in New York City, charged with endeavoring to perpetrate a swindle by claiming to have an instrument by which conversation could be carried on between two persons from widely separated points. A Boston newspaper of that year stated: "Well in formed persons know it is impossible to transmit the human voice over a wire as may be done by the dots and dashes of the morse instrument and alphabet, and if possible of no practical use." In spite of the pessimistic prognosticators of the day, however, there were those who kept the faith and who lived to see the telephone become one of the marvels of its time and one of the greatest civilizing factors ever produced. No better manifestation of the growth and development of the telephone may be found that the Parkersburg area of the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company, the manager of which is Wilmer I. Steer. Mr. Steer is a descendant of a very old Virginia family. His great-great- grandfather was Joseph Steer, a Virginia planter,, who moved to Ohio and settled at the mouth of Big Short Creek, above Wheeling. His son, James Steer, the great-grandfather of Wilmer I., was a prominent farmer in Belmont County, Ohio, and Israel Steer, the grandfather of Wilmer I., was also an agriculturist of that county. Elisha B. Steer, the father of Wilmer I., was born at Colerain, Ohio. For many years he was president of the Victor Stove Company, but is now living in retirement from active business cares. He married Ellen Gilbert, who was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of George Gilbert, and they became the parents of five children. Wilmer I. Steer was born July 2, 1880, at Colerain, Ohio, where he attended private school, and when fifteen years of age entered the Barnesville Friends Boarding School. In 1897 he became a student at the Westtown Preparatory School, Pennsylvania, where he completed the course, and when twenty-two years old had his introduction to the telephone business as bookkeeper at Bridgeport, Ohio. From that position he rose to secretary of the local company at Bridgeport and later was transferred in the same capacity to Bellaire, Ohio. In 1907 he was promoted and sent to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he became secretary of the merged telephone companies, later was made assistant auditor therof, a position which he held for about one year, and then was sent to Steubenville, Ohio, as manager of all the departments at that point of the National Telephone Company. In 1910 Mr. Steer was placed at Parkersburg as manager of the West Virginia Western Telephone Company, which was merged with the Bell Telephone Company in 1917, and the area of which he is now manager comprises the six counties of Wood, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt, Jackson and Roane, and the new plant at Parkersburg, rebuilt in 1926, gives employment to 140 persons. The history of the Parkersburg system is an interesting and instructive one. The instrument invented in 1876 was first introduced in the latter part of 1877 at Parkersburg, there being a private line system between the residences of O. L. Bradford and M. R. Minchall, the houses being located near the old Camden Oil Refinery on the Kanawha River. The telephones were crude instruments without bells, and when one party wished to signal the other he attempted to attract his attention by tapping on the box with a nail. The next telephone line installed at Parkersburg replaced a telegraph line owned and operated by M. C. C. Church of the Transportation Oil Company between the general office at Parkersburg and the oil fields at Volcano. The line served seven telephones, which were installed by J. E. Mayhew, one of the pioneer telephone men of West Virginia. The central office installed at Parkersburg, January 1, 1882, was one of the first in the country and the second in the State of West Virginia, a franchise having been granted to the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company, predecessor of the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia. It was located on the third floor of a building at 420 Market Street, where the switchboard was of the old-fashioned drop type with a hand generator, crude in makeup and performance, but it rendered valiant service at the time. After the office had been in operation for a few year it was relocated at 510 Market Street. For the first few years the telephone development at Parkersburg was slow, and May 1, 1898, sixteen years after the exchange was opened, there were only 250 telephones in service. Today this area, including Parkersburg, Vienna and Belpre, serves 8,000 telephones. Not long ago telephone engineers made a survey of Parkersburg to ascertain the requirements over a long period of years. Based on this survey it is estimated that by 1942 there will be about 14,000 telephones in services in the Park ersburg area. When the telephone office was first established at Parkersburg only one operator was required to handle the switchboard, and for many years three or four young women operated the switchboards. Today about ninety operators are required to handle the daily calls, which approximate 50,000. Parkersburg is an important long distance center with direct telephone lines to many of the leading cities and town of West Virginia and adjoining states. Its first long distance service was established soon after the central office was placed in service. During 1882 J. E. Mayhew constructed a telphone line to Ravenswood and Ripley, West Virginia, and Pomeroy, Ohio, following which a line was constructed to Wheeling. During the next year a line was built from Parkersburg to Elizabeth, Burning Springs, Creston and Grantsville, After the construction of these lines there was marked activity in the building of long distance circuits for several years. In 1896 the American Telephone and Telegraph Company constructed a line from Cambridge, Ohio to Charleston, West Virginia, which passed through Parkersburg, and when this line was placed in service connections could be established with other cities and towns enjoying the privilege of long distance service. While Parkersburg and Cla rksburg are only about seventy-five miles apart, telephone calls between the two cities were routed in a very roundabout way until a direct line was constructed from Parkersburg to Cumberland in 1906. This eastern outlet was of great benefit to the city and the surrounding territory. Parkersburg today has direct circuits to Sistersville, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, Clarksburg, Pennsboro, Goose Creek, Cairo, Murphytown, Elizabeth, Spencer, Charleston, Huntington, Ravenswood, Athens, Marietta, Cambridge, Cincinnati, Columbus, Gallipolis and Pomeroy. In the early days Parkersburg's telephone system consisted of an aerial plant entirely. In the very beginning pole lines and open wire were in use on many of the streets and in the alleys, and later, when the independent company came into existence, this condition became even more congested, since there were two lines constructed and two systems of open wires or cables extending through the various sections of the city, and everyone who needed a complete telephone service must subscribe to telephones from both companies. In 1900 the Bell company secured a new underground franchise and constructed a new underground conduit and cable system in the business district and in some of the residential sections. At the same time it purchased the property on which at present the old building is located on Fifth Street, and erected a building in which a common battery switchboard and associate apparatus was installed. This equipment was placed in service in 1901. Added to this form tim e to time this office served Parkersburg until the early part of 1926, when a new addition was constructed in which other switchboard extensions and equipment were installed to take care of the telephone growth of the city. When the first underground cables were placed in service and extensive aerial cables were constructed from the underground terminals into the outlying sections the telephone company was enabled to remove a large number of poles and a considerable amount of aerial cables and open wire from the streets. The dismantling of this plant not only added to the looks of the city but very materially improved the service, and also reduced maintenance costs of operating the plant. In addition to the extensive improvements made to the central system at Parkersburg the underground conduit and cable and aerial cable plant has been very materially enlarged during the past two years. A new central office has also been established at Vienna, a suburb of Parkersburg, with about 200 telephones in service. While Parkersburg had two telephone services for a number of years, the plants of the two concerns were merged with that of the Bell Company December 1, 1918, at which time there were only 4,197 telephones in service. As a striking contrast to the efficiency and expedition of the service of today and that of former years, the following instructions are quoted from an old directory of the Central District and Printing Company: "To call the exchange, give the "crank" of the bell a quick, steady turn. Place the receiving telephone tightly against your ear. The exchange will answer you by saying "Number." Give the exchange the number of the subscriber you want, keep the receiving telephone to your ear until you hear the subscriber you want say "Hello, who wants John Doe?" When your bell rings take off the receiver off the hook, put it tightly to your ear and say "Hello, who wants Richard Roe?" When through talking hang the receiving telephone on the hook. The party who asked for the connection will give the bell a short ring to notify the exchange that the conversation is ended. The receiving telephone must always hang on the hook. Do not permit non-subscribers to use the telephone. During lig hting storms do not use the telphone. Ask for numbers. Do not use names." In 1926 Parkersburg's pioneer telephone subscribers were guests at a banquet given by Mr. Steer, and more than ninety guests enjoyed the dinner program, at which Mr. Steer presided and made the opening address. J. E. Mayhew, Parkersburg's first telephone manager and one of the pioneer telephone men of West Virginia, gave an unusually interesting talk on Parkersburg's first telephone service. Other speeches followed by Mayor Walter E. Stout, President James S. McCluer of the Board of Commerce and W. T. Williamson of Charleston, vice president of the telephone company. The banquet guests visited the telephone plant and offices, where employees conducted them through the entire building, carefully explaining the intricate workings of the system. Favorable comments were heard on all sides concerning the efficiency of the exchange and upon the beautiful new building. Few men are better known in the telephone industry than Mr. Steer, both for high personal character and for abilities as an executive. He is a thrity-second degree Mason and Shriner and an Elk, and belongs to the Country Club. He married Miss Lilly Watson, daughter of John Watson, of Bridgeport, Ohio and they have two sons: Wesley and Paul, attending college.