Museum Memories

Submitted by Lucille Glasgow
Courtesy of Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center

The following are "Museum Memories" from the archives of the the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center, where a collection of stories, newspaper articles and memories are located.  These articles have been published in the Clay County Leader and are there for copyrighted by the Clay County Leader & authors.  All articles are reprinted with permission as well as the articles posted on this site.  Please do not copy or redistribute any articles without the written permission of the Clay County Leader or authors.

If you would like to visit the the Clay County 1890 Jail Museum - Heritage Center,
please contact Lucille Glasgow for more information about the museum.

Rummaging in the archives, we discovered an interesting clipping, name and date of newspaper not identified. It was written by Susan Orton and headlined Bellevue, Texas. Museum Memories published in Clay Co. Leader, August 24, 2006 & September 7, 2006. "Telephone calls go through an automatic dial system now at Bellevue, but Loma Wetsel can remember when the old fashioned "Number, please" operator served as something of a community co-ordinator. "For 22 years, Mrs. Wetsel had that job, sounding the alarm in event of a fire outbreak, bringing medical help when help was needed - even to reminding teenagers they’d talked too long and to release the busy party line. "As a widow in the early 1930's Mrs. Wetsel found it necessary to bring in extra money in order to provide for her family. She began by ironing for others in the community. Frequent visits to the relief operator on the Bellevue telephone switchboard inspired her to learn how to work the board. "Accepted as a trainee, she completed a six weeks’ training period, then began four-hour stints on the switchboard. Her career with headphones began. "The office in which Mrs. Wetsel began work was in the room above a Bellevue store building. The Masonic lodge met in an adjacent room each month, but Mrs. Wetsel was alone with her switchboard, ironing board and heater most of the time. From her salary she paid utility bills for the office, plus salaries for her part time help. "The telephones in the exchange were brown wooden crates the size of an ‘extra large’ shoe box, with a metal crank which activated the two circular black domes on the box. To attract her attention, customers cranked the metal handle, making a whirring, grinding ring. The sound produced would bring Mrs. Wetsel’s ready response, ‘Number, please?’ On Christmas, the comment was altered to ‘season’s greetings!’ "The whirrings and ringings attracted others as well as Mrs. Wetsel. Her patrons, grouped in party lines of five, six, sometimes more, families, could also utilize the ringing for inter neighbor communication. ‘Ringin’ on the line’ aided neighbors in arranging for joint trips into town, social get-togethers, pasture fighting help or livestock sales. To indicate that party line calls had been finished, users cranked a brief ‘ringing off’ signal to inform the neighbors and Mrs. Wetsel that the line was clear. "From her second story office in town, she handled non-party-line local calls and long distance calls. Her efficiency and helpfulness brought a promotion in 1943. As chief operator, Mrs. Wetsel continued and extended the services begun in her first years on the switchboard. She became the person to notify in case of emergency, good news, loneliness, death in the family, or any number of other eventualities. "A great variety of emergencies beset Mrs. Wetsel and her switchboard during her time of service.  Whenever a fire broke out, she was the first to be notified. As Bellevue was then without a regular fire-fighting service, Mrs. Wetsel alerted the entire area to the need for help. " ‘ About the first people I’d call in case of fire alarms would be the store managers downstairs,’ Mrs. Wetsel recalled. A shrewd observer, she realized that men probably would be standing around the store fronts, and were ready and able to take hoses, buckets, and burlap sacks to combat the blazes. "Another frequent emergency situation involved automobile accidents in the Bellevue area. Mrs. Wetsel was usually the first to know, the one to deploy ambulances to the wreck area. On one occasion her assistance in an electricity high-line accident saved the life of an electric company worker. "Whenever anyone in the area needed a doctor’s aid, Mrs. Wetsel was the source of help. Bellevue was without a doctor. The nearest hospital was in Bowie, 12 miles southeast. Although Mrs.. Wetsel never saw any of the Bowie doctors during her 22 years at the switchboard, she came to know their voices, their schedules, their Bellevue patients, and sometimes, the kind of medications which they would most likely prescribe. "Perhaps Mrs. Wetsel’s service meant the most to her patrons when it aided them in times of grief. Innumerable times she supervised funeral activity. As a switchboard operator, she helped notify friends and relatives of the death. As secretary-treasurer of the Bellevue Cemetery Association, she located grave sites, arranged for burial papers, contacted grave diggers. As floral agent, she took orders for a Bowie florist. And as communications handler, she supervised lodging for out-of-town friends and relatives - kept track of where they were staying and helped the community see to it that they had food to eat. "Occasionally, she would interrupt over-gabby little girls’ conversations to remind them that others needed to use the telephone lines. "So it was that this Bellevue lady offered countless invaluable services to her patrons. "Mrs. Wetsel was replaced in 1960 by an up-to-date automatic dial system. Efficient black dial telephones replaced the cumbersome, dust-gathering wooden boxes. And Mrs. Wetsel, past retirement age and without other job training, retired to her relatively quiet Bellevue home, a few blocks from her former office. Still active as a Baptist Church member, a Cemetery Association officer, and a Bellevue citizen, Mrs. Wetsel continues to receive many calls from older Bellevue patrons who need help in placing their long-distance calls."

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