"Central,
please"- 147 St. James switchboard is a busy place,
1925
Business
at 147 St. James was conducted via a double telephone
switchboard with 18 "outside" lines and 100 local or
inter-departmental lines. The average number of calls
per hour handled by the two operators was 300 or about
2,400 calls per day. The switchboard, although primitive
by today's standards, was considered state-of-the-art
at the time. Pictured from left to right are: Miss M.
Crawford, chief operator, Miss H. MacGregor and Miss
A. Enright.
"The Giants
of St. James Street," 147 St. James Street, 1908
Opened
in 1908 as Royal Bank's head office and main branch,
the building was dominated by statues representing agriculture,
transportation, fisheries and industry. St. James Street
is now St. Jacques and "147" was sold by Royal Bank
in 1928. The photo is from Royal Bank's 1907 Annual
Report commemorating the opening of its new head office
building.
