"In 1983 the last hand-cranked phone system in the United States stopped cranking, and all 431 customers of the Bryant Pond Telephone Company woke up to boring direct-dial. In the center of town there is a giant telephone in honor of that fateful day. Whitman built a 14-foot “candlestick” phone, complete with crank, to be installed as a permanent sculpture at Remembrance Park, just across the street from the Post Office," the Atlas Obscura says.

"The crank system goes back to the beginning of telephones, when a third person — a switchboard operator — always came between you and your call. It was easy: pick up the heavy Bakelite receiver, crank the handle, and tell the operator who you want to talk to. Or find out the latest news, see what the weather might be, what time the store closes… Sound familiar? It was like Siri with a soul.

"Even though they had joined up with the rest of the modern phone world, the people of Bryant Pond wanted to find a way to remember the old days, the old ways, and their old cranky friend. There were pieces of the old phone company, including part of the switchboard, and other memorabilia at the local Historical Society, but they wanted something more, something bigger. It took some time, but luckily the right man for the job was there in town."

"The people of Bryant Pond were the last people in the U.S. to use hand-cranked telephones. And to commemorate being the LAST to use something they erected a gigantic a 14-foot, black candlestick phone. It has the crank and everything!" the WBLM says.

"The people of Bryant Pond used their hand-cranked phones in the homes until 1983! Look for the black beauty the next time you are headed through the Bryant Pond,/Woodstock area on Route 26th.

"Nearly 46% of people in the USA still have a landline in their home. I bet that number is even higher here in Maine."

"Woodstock is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Woodstock is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 1,352 at the 2020 census. The village of Bryant Pond, on State Route 26 in the northern part of Woodstock, is the town's urban center and largest settlement.

"Maine was the last location still using the crank telephone system until the early 1980s."  (Wikipedia)

""The Sculpture By Gil Whitman Is Dedicated To The Memory Of Barbara & Elden Hathaway Owners of the Bryant Pond Telephone Company the very last hand crank magneto telephone system in the U.S.A.," the Road Trippers says.

"They purchased the company in 1951 and operated it from their home as a family business until selling it to the Oxford Networks Company in 1981, when it was integrated into the national dial system."

"The town of Woodstock, often referred to as Bryant Pond, the name of its main village, was incorporated in 1815," the University of Maine says.

"Bryant Pond was famously the location of the last hand-crank telephone network in the United States, which went out of operation in 1983."

"Did you know that Bryant Pond, Maine had its own telephone company that still used crank telephones up until the 1980s? If you've ever driven through Bryant Pond on your way to Bethel or Sunday River, you may have noticed this giant phone in a park," the 94.9 HOM says.

"It's dedicated to the Bryant Pond Telephone Company that operated out of the living room of Elden Hathaway and his wife. Up until it was bought in 1981 by what today is known as FirstLight, the family-run phone company still used crank telephones. You'd turn the crank, an operator in the Hathaway's living room would answer and you would tell them who you want to call."

"The Town of Woodstock was first known as Plantation Three. In the spring of 1797, a surveyor for Buckfield, Maine, laid out ten lots of one hundred acres each, five on each side of the new road (now known as Old County Road). These lots were known as the “Thousand Acre Sqaudron”, laid out for a family of Bryants in Paris," the Town of Woodstock, Maine, says.

"In 1808, soon after the Bryants settled here, a small village of Stephens’ Mills sprang up below the Thousand Acres. The village began to decline when the road, now Route 26, was built through the southern part of the town and the post office was moved to Andrews’ Mills, or South Woodstock.

"A petition was sent to the General Court of Boston, Massachusetts to become incorporated as a town, and was dated on the last Wed of May, 1814. They requested that Plantation Number Three, may be incorporated into a town by the name of Sparta. The petition was signed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on February 7, 1815 and read “an act to establish the Town of Woodstock”. It is not known why “Woodstock” was chosen. March 20, 1815 was the first annual town meeting for the Town of Woodstock.

"After the Atlantic and St. Lawrence passenger train came through on March 10, 1851, many moved their homes to the future village. Bryant Pond Village was the last section of the town to be settled."