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Hooper Telephone Company: From Bakery to Broadband

In “The operators, the flood and the rebuilding”

In June 1944, floodwater reached the telephone plant while operators were still at the switchboard. The June 22 Hooper Sentinel reported that they kept working until several feet of water entered, then left by boat. The centennial history later named Anna Wagner as the operator on duty and singled out lineman Joe Tillman’s work restoring service. Those names come from the later account; the newspaper report left the operators unnamed.

The Operators Who Stayed on the Line

As floodwater entered Hooper’s telephone office, the operators kept working to spread the alarm. The town’s centennial history says they stayed until they had to be carried out. On the next page, it preserves a name: Anna Wagner, the operator on duty. [1, pp. 41–42]

Inside the Harms Store: A Family and Nearly Eighty Years of Hooper Shopping

In “1898: a second building and a broader range of goods”

This was more than a larger version of the original shoe shop. Its departments met several kinds of needs at once. The 1902 grocery photograph shows shelves packed with containers, long service counters, and cases arranged along the central aisle. The September 1903 hardware view shows another crowded interior. Its caption identifies clerk Eric Ericson, Anna Harms as the customer, and eleven-year-old Barbara Harms—the child who would later spend decades working in the family business.