ABSTRACT
Making a business of what was a novelty was more difficult. The backers of Alexander Graham Bell’s telegraph work were his father-in-law, Gardiner Hubbard, and the father of one of his speech students, Thomas Sanders. In July 1877 the three men reorganized as the Bell Telephone Company, with Hubbard as trustee, and began seriously marketing the device. Initially, they leased pairs of telephones for simple two-point communications, commonly between two buildings of a business or
between a businessman’s home and office. The opening of the first telephone exchange, or switchboard, in New Haven in January 1878 was a profound step. Any subscriber could now be connected to any other.
