New England Telephone and Telegraph Company facts for kids

The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was an early company. It helped develop the new telephone system. This company only existed for about a year, from 1878 to 1879.

It's important not to confuse it with a later, much larger company. That later company also had the same name. The first company had no direct link to today's Verizon New England. After the Bell System broke up in 1984, the later company became part of NYNEX. Today, NYNEX is part of Verizon.

How the Company Started

The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company began on February 12, 1878. Investors from Massachusetts and Rhode Island created it. They did this because an agent of Gardiner Greene Hubbard asked them to. Gardiner Greene Hubbard was the father-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone.

Merging to Form National Bell

This early company didn't last long. On February 17, 1879, it merged with the Bell Telephone Company. The Bell Telephone Company held important patents for the telephone. When they merged, they formed the National Bell Telephone Company. Theodore Vail then took charge of this new company.

Becoming American Bell

The National Bell Telephone Company also merged with other companies. This happened on March 20, 1880. These mergers created the American Bell Telephone Company.

AT&T Takes Over

Later, the American Bell Telephone Company was bought by its own smaller company. This smaller company was called American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T). This purchase happened on December 30, 1899.

This meant that if you owned shares in the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, those shares eventually became ownership in AT&T. AT&T later joined with other big companies like SBC Communications and BellSouth. This created what is sometimes called The New AT&T.