Copperopolis, CA…In 1895 James A. Tower was only 16 years old when, using barbed wire fencing, he strung the first telephone line for what was to become The Calaveras Telephone Company. As demands for the telephone service increased, the young Mr. Tower found it necessary to establish a central office in the small community of Felix near the town of Copperopolis. Then in 1899, Mr. Tower, now 20 years old, negotiated an agreement with Sunset Telephone Company that would connect his subscribers by telephone with the rest of the world.

James A. Tower died in 1936 at the young age of 56, leaving his wife Laura and their young son Howard, who was 13 years old at the time, responsible for the operation of the company. In 1950, Mr. Howard Tower, then 27 years old, installed the first automatic switching equipment in the county. This meant that Laura no longer had to operate a manual switchboard. By 1962, all unsightly telephone lines had been buried underground and The Calaveras Telephone Company was operating out of their new modernized buildings in Copperopolis and Jenny Lind.

Today we are proud to say Calaveras Telephone Company is still family owned and operated.