Malheur Bell
 |
|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor(s) | Qwest |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Ontario, Oregon, United States |
| Products | Local Telephone Service |
| Parent | Rocky Mountain Bell (1899–1911) MST&T/USWC/Qwest (1911–2009) |
| Website | www.malheurbell.net |
Malheur Home Telephone Company, commonly known as Malheur Bell, was a rural telephone company operating in Oregon. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qwest Corporation, the Bell Operating Company of Qwest Communications International.
It was founded in 1895 to serve Malheur County, Oregon (then located in Pacific Bell territory). A controlling interest was purchased by Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company in 1899, in exchange for Malheur's purchase of the toll line Rocky Mountain Bell laid to connect Malheur to the rest of the telephone network. It continued to remain an independent operation of The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, formed when Rocky Mountain Bell merged with several other telephone companies throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
By 1984, Mountain Bell had acquired 100% of the company interest, and Malheur continued to operate independently of Mountain Bell. It was now located within Pacific Northwest Bell territory, which became a sister Bell Operating Company of Mountain Bell under U S WEST ownership in 1984. In 1991, U S WEST merged its operating companies into Mountain Bell, renamed U S WEST Communications; however, Malheur Bell remained independent of the rest of U S WEST operations, and continued to use the Bell trademark.
In 2000, U S WEST was acquired by Qwest, and U S WEST Communications was renamed Qwest Corporation. Malheur Bell, however, continued to operate independently of its parent, Qwest Corporation. However, in September 2009, Qwest announced that it would take over the operations of Malheur Bell that December.
On December 14, 2009, Malheur Bell was merged into its corporate parent, Qwest Corporation. Malheur Bell was the last remaining company formerly part of the Bell System that continued to use the Bell logo in its official corporate logo.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Malheur Bell website
- The Associated Press (19 September 2009). "Eastern Oregon's Malheur Bell will merge with Qwest". http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/httpwwwmalheurbellnet_httpwwwq.html.
