February 1, 1880

“This is [a] progressive age!” proclaimed The Vassar Miscellany, as the college welcomed the telephone. “We no longer telegraph, we telephone. The presiding genius of the little table sacred to ‘The Western Union Telegraph Company’ has gone to another and a fairer clime than the College office. Dust gathers on the brass keys, while Mr. Deane talks confidentially to the responsive orifice beside his desk. He has sole charge of this new connection to the outer world, and is ready to sen messages with all possible secrecy and despatch. The telephone connects with the houses of Messrs. Vassar, Van Vliet and Deane, wand with the general telephone office, which is in turn connected with about eighty telephones in the city.”