PrairieGrove

Focused On Progress PGTELCO History

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During World War II, telephone service remained limited to a few hundred customers as people concentrated on the important issues of rationing and supporting their families. Yet after the war, demand for service began to increase. At this time, Jim Parks’ twin sons, Barry and Donald, joined the Telephone Company. They installed telephones, dug postholes, and strung wire. Jim Parks’ youngest son, Joe, also worked for the Telephone Company from 1947 to ce. rst major problems the Telephone Company encountered was an ice storm in January 1949. After three days of freezing rain, sleet, and snow, practically all the pole lines in the company’s service area were on the ground. And of the 2,000 telephones in service, only about 85 were still working once the storm was over. There were only three employees who worked outside the plant. nd. Customers also helped by working for nothing, and some even nance repairs. It took six weeks to bring everything back to working order. In the late 1960s plans were made to upgrade all multiple-party lines to single-line service. This project was completed in 1977, making rst Telephone Company in the state to provide all private lines to their customers in a multi-exchange company. In 1979, the Prairie Grove Telephone Company converted its central ce switch to the Northern Telecom DMS-10 digital equipment. This allowed customers the convenience of touch-tone and the ts of call-waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling, etc.

Beginning in 1958, Barry Parks served as President of the company, and Donald Parks served as the Secretary and General Manager. Donald Parks’ son, David, began working for the company in 1980. He is now President. Today, the company is the second largest family-owned and operated Telephone Company in the state of Arkansas. In the early cially became ects the wide variety of services the company now provides. No longer just a POTS company—literally Plain Old Telephone Service company—PGTELCO has evolved into a Broadband company. It provides high-speed Internet access, DirecTV, and various other services and possesses the capability through Fiber to the Home technology to provide its customers with seemingly unlimited bandwidth. Though many things have changed throughout PGTELCO’s history, rst priority of the company.

Helping Connect Families for Over 100 Years

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