Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D16374-4
Date(s)
- 1943-11-10 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
In November of 1943, private telephones in the new housing project built for war workers at Salishan in East Tacoma were not just a luxury; they were almost an impossibility. The War Production Board had ruled that no new cable could be run for telephones. The Board only allowed the phone company to install 12 outdoor booths in the project, not enough to serve the planned occupancy of 10,000 persons. Using one of the precious booths is Murray Burgess, while (left to right) Roy Ehlis, Marie Escarga, Mary Escarga, Andrew Ehlis and R.T. Armstrong, wait their turn. The phone company had plans to install 25 more booths; but, like this one, they would leave those waiting standing out in the elements. Also, due to dim-out restrictions, the booths were built without lights. About 10 of the 2,000 homes in Salishan were able to get private telephone lines; they were built within 150 feet of existing cable and the residents had proven a war work related need for the phone. (T. Times, 11/10/1943, p. 1).
Telephone booths--Tacoma--1940-1950; Salishan housing project (Tacoma); World War, 1939-1945--Economic & industrial aspects--Tacoma; Telephones; Burgess, Murray; Ehlis, Roy; Escarga, Marie; Escarga, Mary; Ehlis, Andrew; Armstrong, R.T.;