“The Telephone Company – Circa 1915” by artist Cim MacDonald, painted in 1992

The telephone appeared in Chemainus in 1908. The first telephone company
office was located in a private house on Maple Street but moved seven years
later to larger premises. The Victorian residence pictured here served as the
telephone exchange for 30 telephones in the community, and was home to
Daisy Bonde, pictured on the left. Daisy ran the exchange as a supervisor.
Standing at her side is Sophia Horton, the first paid operator to work at the
exchange. The whole effect is a personal, scaled-down, life-like depiction of a
typical Chemainus street scene back in simpler times, when demand required
that telephone service be offered during daylight hours only.

Best viewed in original size