The human-built systems, including tools, machines, knowledge, and resources to send and receive messages to other humans or machines, are called communication technology. These systems have a great influence on people throughout the world. Communication technology influences, and often controls, our lives, and when we understand more about it, we can adapt by making choices about how it will be used in our lives. This understanding can start with having a general knowledge of its history.

Message sending is the fundamental goal of communication technology. Messages are composed of data, the smallest pieces of the message content. If we think of a message as if it were a song, the data are the individual notes, notations, and symbols. By themselves, they are meaningless. But when combined in an organized way, the entire song makes sense and provides information and emotion.

As I discussed in a previous article, the telegraph emerged during the mid-1800s as a new, nearly instantaneous process to move a message over a long distance by using binary data of dits and dahs (dots and dashes). Wires connecting locations near and far carried the electric data from one telegraph to another, creating the communication system. Starting in the mid-1800s, telegraph companies began to emerge and eventually grow to be large, connected hubs of communication. But telegraph messages had to be encoded and decoded by specially trained telegraph operators. And the messages were typically just short, to-the-point statements. They certainly lacked that “human touch” and were not widely used by the public, unless a very important message needed to be sent.

The development of the telephone in north-central Illinois changed that during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the telephone began to transform how communities communicated, conducted business, and organized social life. While the invention of the telephone itself occurred far from Illinois, its adoption in Rochelle and the towns around us mimicked the broader pattern of development shaped by local needs, private enterprise, and community culture. In north-central Illinois, the telephone became a crucial link between rural life and an increasingly modern, interconnected society.

After the telephone moved beyond experimental use, telephone service began appearing in Illinois in the late 1870s and 1880s. Early systems were only local and very simple, typically connecting just a handful of businesses, railroad depots, and/or government offices. Because it didn’t require a telegraph operator at every terminal, the telephone could be adopted by small private companies, rural cooperatives and local governments. This characteristic was especially important in rural regions of north-central Illinois, where farms and small towns demanded faster communication without waiting for large urban corporations to take interest in their specific town.

These private and public ventures promoted telephone service in our region. Early telephone companies were often small, locally-owned enterprises created by businessmen, farmers or local investors. These companies built wooden poles, strung wire along roads and fence lines, and set up switchboards staffed by local operators who became important figures in their communities. Everyone knew the telephone operators! (Just think, they eventually would get their own spot on the telephone dial) Over time, larger corporate systems such as Illinois Bell expanded outward from Chicago and major cities, absorbing or interconnecting with these smaller companies. This gradual consolidation brought greater reliability and long-distance capability, while still relying heavily on infrastructure first established at the local level.

When two separate telephone companies became interconnected, a telephone “exchange” was needed.

The exchange provided a location where the wires from one system could be connected with the wires from another. This is where they exchanged telephone signals. Typically, the exchange operator would plug one cable from one system into the connection to another cable from the other system. You may have seen this depicted in movies or on television, or even old Carol Burnett comedy shows!

In larger cities such as Rockford, telephone development occurred earlier than in the smaller rural towns, and at a faster pace. Rockford’s industrial economy and growing population demanded efficient communication for factories, banks, utilities and municipal services. By the early 20th century, Rockford had multiple telephone exchanges, purpose-built telephone company buildings, and a workforce of technicians and operators. Businesses depended on the telephone to coordinate production and shipping, while city government used it to modernize public services such as police and fire response.

Smaller rural cities and towns, such as DeKalb, Oregon, and Rochelle, each experienced a slightly different but related pattern. All were agricultural centers, with DeKalb a growing educational town, Rochelle a major transportation Hub and vacation destination (because of our railroad connections to Chicago), and Oregon as a legal and governmental center. Each relied on a mixture of local independent companies and later connections to larger networks. Small businesses of all kinds came to rely on and demand easy access to quality telephone communications. Surrounding rural area farmers wanted the telephone to reduce their isolation, facilitate the sale of crops and livestock, and allow rapid communication during emergencies — particularly important in regions where travel could be difficult during winter months. In all places, the telephone connected people from different walks of life. I wonder who the first person in Ogle County was to mutter the words, “Can you hear me now?”

The social effects of telephone adoption were just as significant as the economic ones. Telephones changed patterns of social interaction by making communication faster and more frequent. Neighbors no longer needed to travel to relay news, and families could remain in closer contact despite distance. In rural towns, the local switchboard became a social hub where operators not only connected calls but also helped spread information—sometimes officially and sometimes informally. This new communication culture reshaped community life throughout north-central Illinois.

The telephone didn’t have the last word, surprise, surprise. It paved the way for more, better, faster communication technology in the years to come. Stay tuned for more on that later!

Kurt Wolter has studied and taught technology, including production, transportation, energy, and communication, for over 30 years. He enjoys trying to understand technology and its past, present, and future while also attempting journalism. He can be reached at technohistory100@gmail.com.