Long distance telephone service came first to Hannaford and this was separate from local service which came later. Long distance service was installed in October 1900, and the long distance telephone was located in Jackson's store. In 1905, the statement was made that if the local telephone service wanted to get to Cooperstown they would have to build a line of their own.
Local service for the communities of Hannaford, Dazey and Walum was installed in 1905. Mr. E. A. Duff was the manager for the three communities and the Hannaford exchange was located on the second story of the drug store building. Miss Anna Nelson and Miss Cora Berg were the first telephone operators. It was called the Central North Dakota Cooperative Telephone Company. There were 258 names in the directory which included 40 in Hannaford and 80 on the rural Hannaford lines. At the beginning the lines were so busy it was decided that nonsubscribers would pay 15 cents each time they used the phone to talk to a subscriber and 25 cents when they talked to a nonsubscriber. By this means they hoped the people who had telephones would get better service. The company was owned by the people of the area as they had purchased shares when the lines were built. In 1922, the head office of the company was moved from Dazey to Hannaford. Mr. McGinnes was another early day manager.
In 1946, John Nilsen of Nome and Harry Schnider of Buffalo purchased the "Central Electric and Telephone Company" which was under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Shaw. Leonard was the lineman and Mrs. Shaw was in charge of the switchboard. Mrs. Esther Welter began as switchboard operater under Mrs. Shaw in 1936.
The name was changed to InterCommunity Telephone Co. Inc., in July 1947, and Duane (Digger) Hare became the lineman for the local community. The dial system was installed in August 1959. When the change-over was completed Esther Welter placed the first long distance call to her sister-in-law in Oregon. The call was made promptly at midnight July 31. Trouble came shortly after the change-over when the long distance line service went out. H. I. Anderson, manager of Northwestern Bell came to check and found the trouble in our locality. A duck had flown against the wire, became caught and hung himself (the day before opening of duck season).
Roger Nilsen and family came to make their home in Hannaford in June 1963, when Roger became lineman for the Hannaford Exchange. Work began the summer of 1975, to upgrade the system to one party service and direct dialing. This was activated during the winter of 1975-76, with the work completed in 1976.
Telephone number 51 was placed in the bath house for emergencies in 1937, but misuse and destruction caused it to be removed. There were 65 telephones in 1937-38, and 350 in 1976.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 20