The Gazette
October 5, 1939

The distinction of having the first telephones below Mason-Dixon line goes to Farmerville and Union Parish.

The credit for bringing this distinction to Farmerville goes to Col. Daniel Stein pioneer merchant, of these parts

Running an enormous store here, Mr. Stein went to New York several times a year to buy stock. On one of his trips north he witnessed a demonstration of the newly invented telephone. Assured of its eventual success, Mr. Stein bought stock in the newly formed Bell Telephone Company.

On his return to Farmerville, he brought with him three of the instruments which he had installed in his businesses. One was placed in his store in Farmerville and another at Stein’s Bluff on the Bayou Cornie, a large shipping point for this section where he kept a branch store, and the third was installed at Fork Ferry on Bayou D’Arbonne.