In 1897, a little hidden behind a large railway building, the new post office was built around the Lichtenfels railway area. In 1970 it was demolished for the new building of the parcel hall. The connection of Lichtenfels to the telephone network coincided with the construction of the representative building on November 1, 1897.
The telephone embodies one of the most important future-oriented innovations: the communications network, initiated by the telegraph, was completely independent of the transport network. You could send messages without a person or an object having to be transported to the destination.
As early as 1893, the Lichtenfels district committee for trade and industry had urged the establishment of a public telephone. But it wasn’t until four years later that the wish came true. In 1897 the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Upper Franconia (today IHK) reported confidently: “After the city of Lichtenfels had promised to build a public telephone system from the competent authority [ist] and 22 companies have already signed up to subscribe, the system should be secure. Since there is an extensive and lively export trade in Lichtenfels, interested parties ask that they be connected by telephone with the cities: Coburg, Sonneberg, Frankfurt a./M., Mainz, Mannheim, Cologne, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden because this would make the plant a complete success and achieve maximum profitability. “
But every beginning was difficult. Because one could by no means be connected to all places by the lady from the office. Last but not least, the autonomy of Bavaria in postal affairs reveals itself, while the rest of the German Reich was supplied by the Reich Post. In 1897, for example, in Coburg, Sonneberg or Cologne, “Bavarian local telephone systems were not allowed to speak at all”. Because of the overloading of the line network, the “speech traffic” with Berlin and Frankfurt a. Main not possible. A large number of Saxon cities could of course be reached.
Lichtenfels forwarders are suing
In 1903/04 the three large Lichtenfels forwarding agents Gutmann, Rosenberg, Loewe & Co. and Gondrand filed a lawsuit, “because Lichtenfels is still not permitted to speak to the industrial towns of Ilmenau, Waltershausen, Ohrdruf, Kahla and others in northern Thuringia. It damages the aforementioned Freight forwarding business, if the same as the Thringen competing companies cannot communicate with the manufacturers at the above-mentioned places about freight by telephone. Of course, the Bavarian State Railways also miss out on a large number of freight goods as a result Space is important and would certainly be used extensively, is repeatedly recalled on this occasion and its early establishment is strongly recommended. ”
The basket dealers also wanted a telephone connection to their suppliers, the basket makers in Michelau, Schwrbitz, Redwitz, Buch am Forst as well as Weidhausen and Sonnefeld: “Traffic with these places would be very lively from Lichtenfels and, as a result, be profitable . ” But although this wish was expressed as early as 1901, it was still a long time coming. It was not until November 1905 that Michelau was actually connected to the telephone network.
A little later, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Upper Franconia stated with satisfaction: “From the traffic of this new line it should be clear how the facilities will be designed and profitable according to the other basket-making towns.” However, in 1914 there were only five public “telephone stations” in the Lichtenfels area: in Lichtenfels, Michelau, Schney, Mistelfeld and Stetten. In 1914 there were also 104 private participants, mostly companies, authorities and a few restaurants.
Call number 1 was the export beer brewery Kloster Langheim, which closed its doors a few years later, the highest call numbers (103 and 104) had the company Bruno Klett Metall-Industrie in Schney and the Gendarmeriestation Michelau.
Technical problems
The vast majority of the participants in the Lichtenfels local network lived in the city, several in Michelau and Schney, some in Seubelsdorf (Hourdeaux-Bergmann wood goods factory and Fritzmann antler), Trieb (Benecke estate owner and forestry department), Klosterlangheim (brewery), Buch a. Forst (castle owner von Stockmar) and Hausen (porcelain factory). Technical problems made it difficult to use the new medium, as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry repeatedly complained.
In 1906 it was criticized that “since the telephone traffic between Lichtenfels and Nuremberg and the connections going over Nuremberg, Munich, Mannheim, Frankfurt a / M and others, recently very long delays have often occurred. The connection with Nuremberg itself must take over an hour be waited, with Frankfurt a / M. – Mannheim even several hours. ” If the line is overloaded, then “conversations with Mannheim, which were registered at 10 am, could not take place by 12 noon, with new registrations at 2 o’clock in the afternoon the conversation could only take place after a few hours. This makes it lively Business traffic between Lichtenfels and the places mentioned as well as other cities to the south and west of Nuremberg is very damaged. The delays are partly caused by the fact that the connection with Nuremberg has to be switched in Bamberg and the Bamberg – Nuremberg line in and of itself from Bamberg itself is usually very busy. “
But the direct line from Lichtenfels to Nuremberg, which would certainly have solved some problems, did not come about so quickly. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated in 1908: “Complaints are being made on several sides, since conversations from Lichtenfels to Frankfurt a. M. and Mannheim are usually very indistinctly heard, while at further distances, e.g. to Cologne a. Rh . the communication is excellent. ” The Chamber added: “These telephone connections are used a lot, especially in the Lichtenfels forwarding business. It is often a question of finding out whether certain goods destined for overseas can reach the river boat trips and then the overseas steamer departures Correct communication with the named inland port is also in the interest of the Lichtenfels industry and we ask to alleviate these technical errors. ”
In 1925, Michelau’s telephone customers still railed in a letter to the editor about “the chaos on the telephone lines […]that has already become an everyday occurrence. If it is no longer uncommon, since the participants in Michelau are several hours a day without any connection to the switchboard in Lichtenfels, the confusion of two to three participants is part of the regularities of daily business. For every Michelauer participant, having to listen has become an unwanted matter of course. ”
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