Telegraph Help Center

Sign for a public telephone in a post office around 1885

A telegraph helper was a small post office with a telephone for public use.

After the invention of the telephone , as the telephone was called at the time, it was made available to the general public by Postmaster General Heinrich von Stephan . Especially in small places in the country, telegraph support centers were gradually set up around 1900, which could also be looked after by private individuals with "public reputation" with "suitable local".

The only fast communication with the telegraph network so far was very expensive for users and also caused deficits. The phone didn't have these drawbacks.

In the German colonies , telegraph companies without a postal service were also referred to as telegraph auxiliaries.

See also

• Post office

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Puche: Post and Telegraphenwesen, in: Heinrich Schnee (Hrsg.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon . Volume III, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, pp. 89ff.

Web links

• Chronology of telephony and telephone directory in Berlin
• 100 years ago: Hainrode gives the green light for the phone ; in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of May 18, 2006 on mz-web.de
• The phone in Obermusbach