Headingley received its first telephones in 1911. The telephone office was located in the Barrett home,at 5402 Bridge Road,with Maggie Barrett as the operator and James Duffy the agent who collected the bills.Thirteen phones were listed in the first phone book.This included three farms south of the river -Morris Bishop,Mr.Meincke,and Watkins and Young,market garden-ers.Three belonged to the West Winnipeg Developers Company,who had big plans for development in south Headingley.The other seven were located in Portage Avenue businesses and  homes.These included James Black,the Black and Francis Store,Lester Francis,Thomas Buchanan, Contractor and builder,J.Copp,Blacksmith,Fred Gow,at the Hotel,and the McLean Livery Stable.

These first phones used a wet battery and every few months a telephone serviceman would come around to fill the tank with liquid.For many years,service was only during the day,and for those who did not have phones,messages were usually sent to the Francis store. The second telephone office was in the home of Ethel McLaren (Portage Ave and Hudson St),and she operated the phones until she died in 1927.After the Bank of Commerce, at 5434 Portage Avenue,closed its doors in 1924,the two-storey building was renovated to include room for the telephone exchange with living quarters.In 1927,Louisa and Tom Kidd became the telephone operators and stayed on until 1955.By 1946,there were still only 48 phones in the community.

Phyllis and Tom Craig were the operators from July 1, 1955 until October 1968.Muriel Britton and Jean Piper worked for them as well.This marked the end of operators in Headingley.They had been an important community link for many years,not only putting calls through asking,“Number please?” but also acting as an emergency line.. Only a few businesses had private lines because of the expense.Most of the community was on party lines with phone numbers like 305 r23,which meant that your ring would be two long and three short rings.A long ring meant there was a jailbreak,a fire or some other trouble in the community.At that time you would listen for a message from the operator,
who could also cut into your conversation if necessary. Phone manners were very important during the party line era,especially seeing that up to 10 different parties could share one line.You were expected NOT to listen to other people ’s conversations.If someone else was talking,you were to wait five minutes before trying again.You were to keep calls short, and make sure the receiver was not left off the hook as this would affect the whole line and calls could not come in or out.

If someone had an emergency,you were to hang up and let him or her use the phone.If problems arose,the Telephone Company sent out a warning letter to the offending customer. The automatic telephone system was put in place in 1968. Up to 1972,Headingley was a rural exchange that included St. François Xavier and was considered long distance from Winnipeg.After Headingley residents took petitions of protest
to the Legislature,the exchange became part of Winnipeg on January 25,1973,leaving St.François Xavier on its own.The phone bill went to $3.60 per month from $2.50,and saw the phasing out of party lines.