WILTON – Fiber optic cables are the current state-of-the-art means of providing home communications, including telephone service and high-speed internet. TDS Telecom has spread that service across most of Wilton and parts of Lyndeborough over the last few years.

But before TDS, there was the Wilton Telephone Company, one of the first independent telephone companies in New Hampshire. It was founded in 1900 by a group of local businessmen.

The Historical Society recently acquired two early switchboards used by Wilton Telephone operators. They are on display in the Historical Rooms on the second floor of the Wilton Public/Gregg Free Library, and may be viewed on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. An exact date of the switchboards has not yet been determined.

According to an article written by Stuart Draper, president of the company in 1976, the office was first located in Durgin’s Drug Store on Main Street (which by 1950 was Cleary’s Pharmacy). In 1910, the company offices moved to the Post Office Building, which is now Local Shares. In 1946, the company purchased Sanborn’s Jewelry Store, the small building on Forest Street which was removed in 2021 when TDS built new offices on the opposite side of the street.

In 1951, Wilton Telephone was the first independent phone company in the state to change to dial phones. They built the cement block building behind the old office which is still in use.

TDS acquired the company in 2002.