Prior to this time a number of people owned lines serving the community with limited service. Long distance calls were made through Michigan State Telephone Company who had toll service from Shepherd to the Starkweather building (now Winn Shopping Center) where the switching was done by alligator clips and a piece of short wire connecting farm lines to the toll circuit. On March 16th, 1916, The Wi
nn Telephone Company was incorporated. In April 1916, the first switchboard was purchased and installed for $208.09. The telephone rates at that time were $1.00 per month. The switchboard was moved and operated out of various residences until 1922 when it was again moved to a building on the main street where it remained until 1959. In 1959, used dial equipment was purchased from General Telephone Company and service was moved over on November 1st, 1959 from magneto to automatic dial service serving 175 patrons. At this time, the equipment was moved into a new cement block building on Blanchard road. With increased requests for service, larger equipment was needed. In June 1965, new Automatic Electric dial equipment was purchased. In 1985 a new Stromberg switch was installed offering many special features like call waiting and 3 way calling. In 1994 the Stromberg switch was replaced with a new Nortel switch that is still in place with several upgrades. The Company now offers Internet and DSL high speed Internet service. Currently Winn Telephone has over 700 access lines.
