History of . . .
Van Buren Telephone Co., Inc.

On July 30, 1923 an organizational meeting was held to form the Van Buren Mutual Telephone Company. The Birmingham Mutual Telephone Co., Farmers Connective Telephone Company of Bonaparte, and the Farmers Mutual Telephone Co. of Utica were the original companies that formed the union with Union Telephone Co. being purchased in August of 1923. Union had centrals or exchanges in Birmingham, Bonaparte, Bentensport, Douds, Keosauqua, and Stockport. All switchboards these companies were combined, or reduced to one in each of the towns of Birmingham, Bonaparte, Keosauqua, and Stockport.

1943 - Mt. Sterling exchange was purchased for $500.00. 1952 - Cantril exchange was purchased from Middle States Utilities Company for $5000.00. With the purchase of the Cantril exchange, our system was brought to six exchanges. 1953 - The company converted to dial in the Mt. Sterling exchange In August, 1953. This exchange was chosen as it was the smallest and least costly to begin the conversion process. Cantril followed in 1955, Stockport in 1959, Keosauqua in 1960, Bonaparte in 1961, and Birmingham in 1962.

1956 - The name was changed from Van Buren Mutual Telephone Company to Van Buren Telephone Co., Inc. as the stockholders of the company were not necessarily patrons. 1957 - Office building at 615 First Street (formerly a bank) was purchased from F.M. McClurg. The office was remodeled in 1982.

1964 - Iowa Utilities Commission was established to regulate rates, tariffs, and rate of return. The company built a maintenance shop and garage for the company vehicles in the NW part of Keosauqua on Franklin Street.
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1972 - With dial conversion completed for 10 years the need for improvement and upgrading of services was established. $100,000.00 was borrowed to begin the process of bringing a maximum of four parties per line.

1979 - Pole yard purchased and building built to house heavy equipment, cable, etc.

1982 - IBM Series I computer system was purchased for the office for billing and accounting. The company€s outside plant was buried cable and most of the poles were removed. The analog switch was replaced with a Stromberg Carlson digital switch in September.

1988 - Private line service was now offered to all patrons. Became a member of the newly formed of approximately 130 independent Iowa telcos known as Iowa Network Services (INS).

1989 - The office was moved next door to the former Priebe building after extensive remodeling. The need for private offices, computer room, and board room made it necessary to move to a larger facility. In September VBTC offered equal access to it subscribers.

1990 - Van Buren Cellular, Inc. was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary. This came after several other telephone companies became limited partners, with Contel the primary partner, in a cellular agreement in Iowa RSA4 after winning the lottery for that area of service.

1992 - In March a DMS-10 switch from Northern Telecom was installed. Smart remotes were installed in all the remote exchanges. That summer a fiber route was laid to the Birmingham and Stockport exchanges.

1993 - The office computer system was upgraded to an AS400 in April. Van Buren DBS, Inc. was formed as a subsidiary to handle the direct broadcast satellite service to the Van Buren and Jefferson counties. Exclusivity agreement were purchased from NRTC to offer programming for Directv services. The first dish was installed I July of 1994.

1994 - Fiber was laid to the Cantril and Bonaparte exchanges. In May, VBTC became a member of INET Communications, L.C. now known as TELNET Communications, L.C. for the acquisition of cable TV systems in Preston and Decorah. In September, VBTC joined the Iowa Telephone Acquisition Consortium now known as Alpine Communications, L.C. for the purpose of acquiring US WEST properties.

1995 - Joined with other SE Iowa telcos to build a fiber network to meet INS directly. This was completed in the fall of 1996.

1997 - Upgraded switch for CLASS Service which enabled the introduction new features such as Caller-ID to Van Buren Telephone customers.

1999 - Completed sale of the Direct Broadcast Satellite line of business.