George W. Coy
George Willard Coy (November 13, 1836 – January 15 or 23, 1915) was an American mechanic, inventor and entrepreneur. He ran the first commercial telephone exchange in 1878 and was involved in the production of the first telephone directory. Early life Coy was born on November 13, 1836, in Freedom, Maine. He was a first sergeant in Company D, 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Career On January 28, 1878, the first telephone switchboard went into operation in New Haven, Connecticut. It was set up by Coy, Herrick P. Frost, and Walter Lewis and with an investment of $600; the switching equipment was developed and built by Coy. The company was named District Telephone Company of New Haven. Coy took over the switching operation and thus became the world's first operator, Frost the first salaried operator. Eight telephone lines were available to the company's initial 21 customers. After Lewis left, Coy and Frost sold a b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Telephone Exchange
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits, enabling telephone calls between subscribers. The term "central office" can also refer to a central location for fiber optic equipment for a fiber internet provider. In historical perspective, telecommunication terminology has evolved with time. The term ''telephone exchange'' is often used synonymously with ''central office'', a Bell System term. A central office is defined as the telephone switch controlling connections for one or more central office prefixes. However, it also often denotes the building used to house the inside plant equipment for multiple telephone exchange areas. In North America, the term ''wire center'' may be used to denote a central office location, indicating a facility that provides a telephone with a dial tone ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Telephone Directory
A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory. Its purpose is to allow the telephone number of a subscriber identified by name and address to be found. The advent of the Internet, search engines, and smartphones in the 21st century greatly reduced the need for a paper phone book. Some communities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, sought to ban their unsolicited distribution as wasteful, unwanted and harmful to the environment.Yellow Pages ruling endangers SF ban Heather Knight, '' [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Freedom, Maine
Freedom is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 711 at the 2020 census. Freedom is a residential and recreational area. History The area was part of the Plymouth Patent. It was settled in 1794 by Stephen Smith, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. First called Smithstown Plantation, it was later called Beaver Hill Plantation. During the War of 1812, the town was incorporated on June 11, 1813, as Freedom, a name which had political significance. Freedom Academy was founded in 1836. The town's population was 716 inhabitants in 1870, and 652 in 1880. Principal products of farms were hay and potatoes. Sandy Stream, which is supplied by Sandy and Duck ponds, provided water power for early mills. Industries included a flour mill, corn mill, sawmill for long lumber, shingle mill, a shovel handle factory, a carding, clothing and woolen mill, and a tannery. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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First Sergeant
First sergeant is typically a senior non-commissioned officer rank, used in many countries. Singapore First sergeant is a Specialist (Singapore), specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First sergeants are the most senior of the junior specialists, ranking above second sergeants, and below Staff Sergeants. The rank insignia for a First Sergeant features the three chevrons pointing down shared by all specialists, and two chevrons pointing up. In combat units, First Sergeants are very often platoon sergeants or given the responsibility for independently operating detachments of support weapons. They are often given instructional billets as well in training schools. First sergeants normally answer to the company sergeant major, assisting the latter in the mentorship, guidance and command of the more junior specialists (Third and Second Sergeants) who are section commanders. United States In the United States, a ''first sergeant'' generally serves as the senior enlisted ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
The 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the four "Veteran Regiments" raised in the winter of 1863–64. Recruits of these regiments were required to have served at least nine months in a prior unit. The regiment was attached to the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac and took part in Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864. They were in extremely heavy combat during the campaign, suffering great casualties during engagements which included the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and the Battle of the Crater. They were involved in several assaults during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864 and participated in the spring 1865 battles which finally drove General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army from their entrenchments in Petersburg, leading to the end of the war at Appomattox Courthouse. Formation and early duty The fir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of America, Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by U.S. state, states that had Secession in the United States, seceded from the Union. The Origins of the American Civil War, central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether Slavery in the United States, slavery should be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prohibited from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War, Decades of controversy over slavery came to a head when Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion, won the 1860 presidential election. Seven Southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List of municipalities in Connecticut, the third largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport and Stamford, Connecticut, Stamford, the largest city in the South Central Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, South Central Connecticut Planning Region, and the principal municipality of Greater New Haven metropolitan area, which had a total population of 864,835 in 2020. New Haven was one of the first Planned community, planned cities in the U.S. A year after its founding by English Puritans in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four Grid plan, grid, creating the "Nine Square Plan". The central common block is New Haven Green, the New Haven Green, a square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Revere, Massachusetts
Revere (, ) is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Located approximately northeast of Downtown Boston, Revere is the terminus of the Blue Line (MBTA), MBTA Blue Line, with three stations located within the city: Wonderland station, Wonderland, Revere Beach station, Revere Beach, and Beachmont station, Beachmont. The city borders Massachusetts Bay, and was the site of the Battle of Chelsea Creek. Revere Beach, a three mile (4.8 km) stretch of beach on the city's eastern coast, is the oldest public beach in the United States. Revere is one of the oldest communities in the United States. Originally known as Rumney Marsh, in reference to the 600-acre salt marsh located within the Saugus, Massachusetts, Saugus and Pines River Inlet, present-day Revere was part of Boston from 1632 until 1739, when it became part of Chelsea. Revere and neighboring, present-day Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop separated from Chelsea, Massachusetts, Chelsea and were established as the town of North ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1836 Births
Events January–March * January 1 — Hill Street Academy is named Colombo Academy and acquired by the Government, establishing the first public school in Sri Lanka. * January 1 – Queen Maria II of Portugal marries Prince Ferdinand Augustus Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. * January 5 – Former U.S. Representative Davy Crockett of Tennessee arrives in Texas to join the Texan fight for independence from Mexico. * January 12 ** , with Charles Darwin on board, reaches Sydney. ** Will County, Illinois, is formed. * February 8 – London and Greenwich Railway opens its first section, the first railway in London, England. * February 23 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of the Alamo begins, with an American settler army surrounded by the Mexican Army, under Santa Anna. * February 25 – Samuel Colt receives a United States patent for the Colt revolver, the first revolving barrel multishot firearm. * March 1 – Texas Revolution – Convention of 1836: Delegate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1915 Deaths
Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ** WWI: British Royal Navy battleship HMS Formidable (1898), HMS ''Formidable'' is sunk off Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, by an Imperial German Navy U-boat, with the loss of 547 crew. **WWI: Battle of Broken Hill: A train ambush near Broken Hill, Australia, is carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who are killed, together with four civilians. * January 5 – Joseph E. Carberry sets an altitude record of , carrying Capt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois as a passenger, in a fixed-wing aircraft. * January 12 ** The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote. ** ''A Fool There Was (1915 film), A Fool There Was'' premières in the United States, starring Theda Bara as a '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |