View source for New England Telephone and Telegraph Company

{{Short description|Defunct northeast American communications firm}}
The first incarnation of the '''New England Telephone and Telegraph Company''' was a short-lived company set up to develop the then-new [[telephone]]. New England Telephone and Telegraph lasted only a year as a separate entity, from 1878 to 1879, and had no direct relationship with the later company of the same name, which after the breakup of the Bell System in 1984 became part of the NYNEX Corporation, now part of Verizon.

== History ==

The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was formed February 12, 1878, by investors in the states of [[Massachusetts]] and [[Rhode Island]] at the behest of an agent of [[Gardiner Greene Hubbard]], the father-in-law of telephone inventor [[Alexander Graham Bell]].

New England Telephone and Telegraph merged with the [[Bell Telephone Company]] (which was started on the basis of holding "potentially valuable patents"), on February 17, 1879, to form the '''National Bell Telephone Company''',<ref>Pizer 2009, pgs.119, 125</ref> at which time [[Theodore Vail]] took over its operations. The National Bell Telephone Company merged with others on March 20, 1880, to form the '''American Bell Telephone Company'''.<ref>Pizer 2009, pg.125</ref>

== Later acquisition of American Bell by AT&T ==

The American Bell Telephone Company was later purchased by its own subsidiary, '''[[American Telephone & Telegraph]]''' (AT&T) on December 30, 1899. Thus share ownership of New England Telephone and Telegraph evolved into ownership of AT&T. AT&T would later undergo mergers with [[SBC Communications]] and [[BellSouth]] to become ''[[The New AT&T]]''.

== See also ==

* The [[Bell System]], a name and trademark formerly used by AT&T.
* The [[Regional Bell Operating Companies]], which were divested from the Bell System in 1984.

== References ==

;Notes

{{reflist}}

;Bibliography

* Bruce, Robert V. ''Bell: Alexander Bell and the Conquest of Solitude''. Ithaca, New York: [[Cornell University|Cornell University Press]], 1990. {{ISBN|0-8014-9691-8}}.
* Pizer, Russell A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4Vjyz9fgs6sC The Tangled Web of Patent #174465], AuthorHouse, 2009, {{ISBN|1-4389-8402-2}}, {{ISBN|978-1-4389-8402-5}}.

== Further reading ==
* New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. [https://archive.org/details/officialdirector18893newe List of Subscribers, October 1, 1889]; and business directory. Boston: 1889.
* New England Telephone and Telegraph Co., Boston Division [https://archive.org/details/officialdirector18902newe Official List of Subscribers, July 1st, 1890]. [Boston?]: 1890. 
* Tossiello, Rosario. "The Birth and Early Years Of The Bell Telephone System, 1876–1880" (dissertation), [[Boston University]], 1971.
* Larned, Larry. [http://www.belltelephonesigns.com/ Birth of The Blue Bell Telephone Signs: The History of the Blue Bell Telephone Sign as implemented by New England Telephone and Telegraph], BellTelephoneSigns.com website, February 26, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2010.

{{Alexander Graham Bell}}
{{Bell System}}
{{Telecommunications}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:New England Telephone And Telegraph Company}}
[[Category:Bell System]]
[[Category:History of New England]]
[[Category:Telegraph companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Alexander Graham Bell]] 
[[Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1878]]
[[Category:Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States]]

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