The beginnings and development of the telephone in the County of Gorizia-Gradisca up to the First World War

Abstract

The article discusses the beginnings of telephony and the expansion of the telephone network in the County of Gorizia-Gradisca during the period of Austria-Hungary. Gorizia successfully followed other territorial centres across Slovenian lands, obtaining its first telephone switchboard in 1894. In the following years and decades, the network first expanded within the city of Gorizia, primarily among public institutions, companies, tradesmen, healthcare institutions, and private users. It was only after establishing connection with Trieste in 1906 that Gorizia also set up an interurban network, followed by a gradual expansion of telephone connections and switchboards to other places across Gorizia-Gradisca. Drawing on newspaper and printed sources, the article describes the spread of the network across the territory, the population’s response to the telephone, and its first users.