The first pair of telephones was connected by a telegraph line from the plaster company's office on Monroe to the plaster mill on the west side. On the evening of October 30^th, 1877, when the new instruments were tested, there was great excitement. There were doubters among those gathered at each end of that first telephone line in West Michigan. Few had heard of the telephone; fewer believed it was possible to talk any distance over a piece of solid wire.

Grand Rapids was progressive and quickly saw the practical value of the telephone. The first exchange opened in 1879, but only day service was provided until 1884, when night service was added.

In 1896 the Citizens Telephone Company began competing with the Bell system. Citizens introduced the dial telephone to the state. The use of automatic dial equipment, first used in January of 1904, made the company a formidable competitor. Grand Rapids was the first large city in the country to have dial service, and for some time it boasted the largest automatic exchange in the world.

Customers of one phone company could only place calls or receive them from someone who used the same service. Businesses needed service from Citizens and Bell to accommodate all their customers. In 1923 when the Michigan State Telephone Company assumed control of Citizen's, customers could finally call anyone in the city.