TELEPHONE CENTRAL OFFICES

CENTRAL VALLEY CENTRAL OFFICES

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CAMP NELSON
(Thanks to WR)
Remote switch hosted by Porterville office and all microwave feed.  Single bounces off a passive repeater then down to Porterville.  Office is about 5000-foot elevation and serves the Southern Sierra towns of Camp Nelson, Cedar Slope, Alpine Village and Ponderosa.

 

DELANO

 

Type: Suburban

Original Pacific Telephone office built in the late 50s.

 

DINUBA

 

Type: Rural

Manual exchange replaced with #5 Crossbar between 1948 and 1953.

Current DMS 100 Host has 591, 595 and 596.

Old Exchanges: LYman 1

 

EARLIMART

 

Type: Suburban

Remote Switch

Old Exchanges: VIctor 9

 

FARMERSVILLE

 

Type: Suburban

Hosted out of Visalia CO.

Original CDO placed in service sometime prior to the advent of ANC in the mid ‘60s. Now a Nortel DMS remote.

 

Old Exchanges: SHerwood 7

 

GOSHEN

 

Type: Rural

Remote switch at a strange location between the intersections of two major highways.  Probably built by Central California Telephone Co. in the mid-1960s when the highways were just a cross-road.

 

KINGSBURG

 

Type: Rural

Central California Telephone office built in the late 1950s.

Old Exchanges: TWinoaks 7

 

 

 

OROSI

 

Type: Rural

Remote hosted by Dinuba CO.

CDO (SXS) replaced suburban and farmer line service. Date not known, but presumably after dial came to Dinuba Main.

Currently a Nortel remote switch. Still one-prefix town.

 

Old Exchange: LAwerence 8

 

PIXLEY

 

 

Type: Rural

Original Central California Telephone Co. remote switch

Old Exchanges: PLaza 7

 

SELMA

 

Type: Rural

Old Exchanges: TWinoaks 6

 

SHAFTER

 

Type: Suburban

Original Central California Telephone office taken over by Pacific Telephone.

Old Exchanges: PIoneer 6

 

TIPTON

TIPTON ENTRANCE

 

 

Type: Rural

Original Central California Telephone office.  Interesting Spanish style architecture and door entrance design.

 

 

TULARE

 

Type: Rural

Original Central California Telephone office.

Old Exchanges: MUrdock 6

 

VISALIA

VISALIA (Rear of office)

 

Type: Suburban

This is Visalia 11. It opened in April, 1948, replacing the manual exchange three blocks away at 129 S. Church Street.  It was a step-by-step office, REdwood-4. 

There are two very high-ceilinged floors above ground.  The switches, testboard and trunking were on the first floor.  Operator Services (Traffic) cord switchboards and DA took up the second floor.

The brown concrete insets in the walls cover the windows that fell victim to the Cold War.

If you look closely in the bottom picture you can actually see the shadow of the old Pacific Telephone signage, with the 1969 Bell System logo.  Pacific Bell removed the sign in 1984, when they placed their red star-key emblem on the north and west faces of the building.  Those were later replaced with SBC signage.  New AT&T signs are undoubtedly close at hand. 

Old Exchanges: REdwood 4

 

 

WASCO

 

Type: Suburban

Original Central California Telephone office.

Old Exchanges: PLateau 8

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