Prairie Grove, AR-2020

Focused On Progress PGTELCO History

continued from previous page

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 1951, when he accepted a position at the Prairie Grove Post Office. One of the first 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. The Telephone Company began hiring anyone they could find. Customers also helped by working for nothing, and some even made an advance payment on their bills to finance repairs. It took six weeks to bring everything back to working order. In the late 1960’s plans were made to upgrade all multiple-party lines to single-line service. This project was completed in 1977, making Prairie Grove the first 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 office switch to the Northern Telecom DMS-10 digital equipment. This allowed customers the convenience of touch-tone and the benefits 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 2000’s the Prairie Grove Telephone Company officially became PGTELCO, a name change that reflects 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, one thing has not: the customers’ well-being was and still is the first priority of the company.

Helping Connect Families for Over 100 Years

• hometown magazine •

14