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Today's pagoda at 743 Washington Street was built in 1909 as the second Chinese Telephone Exchange building to operate at this address.
The first Chinese Telephone Exchange was built in 1901. The San Francisco Examiner of 17 November 1901 reported:
The walls are hung with banners in red and yellow and gold. Along one side of the room is a row of teakwood chairs with cushions
of silk, while near the switchboard are the small black stools which are to be seen all over the Chinese quarter. The switchboard
itself is exactly like those in the other exchanges of the city, except that the operatives are men and Chinese. They used the same
cry of “hello” in answer to a call—a pleasant tone, cheerful and good-humored.
The work of the exchange would drive an American operator insane. For, in addition to the 255 numbers on the exchange, there are
at least 125 telephones which are either in Chinese lodging-houses or in clubs. The operatives have nearly 1500 names to remember,
together with their owner’s place of residence. For example, Woo Kee rings his telephone and says he wants to talk to Chung Hi Kin. He
gives no number, for Chung lives in some big tenement and has no telephone number. It is the duty of the operative [the telephone operator]
to remember all these names, and it is claimed he does so without effort.
“We are going to put in at least 150 new phones during the coming year, so you see we are prospering greatly. We have many visitors here every
day, and we are glad to see them, as they do not interfere with business in any way....”
The Chinese telephone company was to put in girl operators when the exchange was refitted, and doubtless it will be done eventually. The
company prefers women operators for many reasons, chiefly on account of good temper.
But when the company found that girls would be unobtainable unless they were purchased outright, and that it would be necessary to keep a
platoon of armed men to guard them, to say nothing of an official chaperon to look after the proprieties, the idea of girl operators was abandoned.
“They come too high,” remarks the facetious general manager, “but in the next century we'll be able to afford them, for girls will
be cheaper then.”
The first Chinese Telephone Exchange of 1901 was destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The new Chinese Telephone Exchange was opened in 1909
and served as an exchange until 1949 when automated dialing replaced operators and the pagoda was sold to the Bank of Canton.
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