The first telephone line was installed in Louis Breithaupt’s office on Queen Street to his house on Margaret Street. Below is an entry written by a descendent of Louis Breithaupt in the 1928 Waterloo Heritage Society report:
Among other interesting items donated to the Society’s museumduring the year are the two first telephone instruments used inBerlin, now Kitchener. These were on a line put up (by myself) in1880 from the office of the late Louis Breithaupt, on Queen Streetnorth, to his house a mile away on Margaret Avenue. The instruments,one at each end, used alternately for speaking and hearing,are of walnut and of the same general shape as the receiving instrumentsused now. The call was made by an ordinary electric bell andbattery. This private line did good service for two years, until theBell Telephone Company established its local system in 1882.The first local telephone agent, and continuing for many years, ,was the late John S. Hoflman. The exchange was in the buildingNo. 8 Queen Street North, now the Kloepfer and Co. coal oflice,where it continued until the company built its own office on OntarioStreet North in 1910 where the late George D. Richmond wasmanager for some years, until he removed to Hamilton to takecharge of the Company’s business there.