Carrie's Quilt "The Olson Telephone"

Carrie painted this "Wooden Wall Phone" on her next block.   She said that the family's first phone on the farm was very much like this one.    "Our ring was three shorts and a long."  "I remember you would know to pick it up and answer when you heard your ring."  "We had neighbors by the name of Kemps, who were waiting to see whether our telephone set the house on fire and if it didn't they were going to get them one."  Linda Ruth asks Carrie, "So did they get one?"  "I think they did, but didn't right at first until they saw what ours was going to do."  

From some of my interviews this past summer, I had several people that remembered this phone.  I believe it made an impression on people.  When you came in the front door of the house would be the parlor and in the little entry way the telephone box hung on the right hand side.  The Olson's always left their front door open in case a neighbor needed to use the telephone in an emergency at night. It came in handy if someone needed to call the doctor.   They were the only ones on the block that had a phone and it appears to have been a real asset to the community.   Judy can remember sleeping on the divan at  night and hearing people come in to use the telephone.  She would ask Mabel what was going on and Mabel told her that  someone in the neighborhood needed to use the phone.  

I believe this type of wall phone was made by Northern Electric and the model was a 317.  (I am not totally sure on this, it is a guess)   From what I have read, this phone was introduced around 1907 and was sold for the next 30 years.  ( I guess they never caught fire!  LOL)