History

Telephone Company Long Time Part of DeLeon Economy

Most people would never think that one of the oldest businesses in DeLeon is the telephone company. In fact, only Higginbotham’s, the railroad, the DeLeon Free Press, and possibly Dabney’s are older.In 1895 Bob Gilmore started the DeLeon Telephone Service. Records are scarce, but L. H. Shannon and A. I. Stephens had turns owning the system. In 1904, Stephens sold the system to B. E. Howe who operated it until selling it to Southwestern Bell in 1929.

In 1944, Southwestern Bell sold the system (all 136 subscribers) to E. F. Stephens. Stephens renamed it the DeLeon Telephone Company and later converted the old hand crank system into a dial type and expanded his operation to include the Carbon, Desdemona, and Olden areas. 1966 brought change when Stephens sold the company to Comanche County Telephone Company. After that acquisition and the acquisition of the Gorman system in 1972, Comanche County Telephone provided telephone service to eight different service areas in portions of five counties. In 2009, the name was changed to Totelcom Communications, LLC.

Today the company has two affiliates: Comanche County Telecommunications, L.P. and Texas Communications of Brownwood, L.P. These companies offer long distance, radio paging, and Internet access.