![[WPT][4]Galloway and Son Store](https://ah.r3mx.com/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/WPT4Galloway-and-Son-Store-scaled-square.jpeg "[WPT][4]Galloway and Son Store")
The Winter Park Telephone Company, founded in 1910 by Carl Hill Galloway, holds a pioneering place in Central Florida’s communications history.
The Galloway family had settled in Maitland in 1886 and opened Galloway’s Grocery and Feed at the corner of Horatio and Maitland Avenues, which became a beloved general store that served as both a marketplace and a social gathering spot for the growing community.
Carl Galloway, the eldest son of the family, left Maitland to study at Georgia-Alabama College and later gained experience working for telegraph companies in the South. In 1910, he returned to Maitland to assist with the family store and saw firsthand how time-consuming it was to take grocery orders by bicycle. Looking to improve communication, Carl contacted his former employer, who sent a used switchboard and a set of magneto-style telephones. Carl installed the switchboard above the store and placed phones in the homes of the business’s ten most frequent customers, officially establishing what would soon become the Winter Park Telephone Company.
![[WPT][2]Carl Galloway](https://ah.r3mx.com/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/WPT2Carl-Galloway-scaled-square.jpg "[WPT][2]Carl Galloway")
![[WPT][11]Telephone Photo 3 23 in wide](https://ah.r3mx.com/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/WPT11Telephone-Photo-3-23-in-wide-scaled-square.jpg)
The new telephone service was a success. By 1911, the system had doubled in size and operations moved into the Galloway home, where Carl’s wife Lena managed the switchboard. In 1913, the company published its first telephone directory, listing 40 subscribers, and by 1918, that number had more than doubled. To accommodate growing demand, the company opened a dedicated building in Winter Park and was formally renamed the Winter Park Telephone Company.
For nearly 70 years, the Galloway family operated the business, establishing an impressive legacy of innovation and community service. After Carl’s death in 1958, his sons continued running the company until its sale to United Telephone of Florida in 1979. Though the company itself no longer exists, its legacy lives on through the A&H’s Telephone Museum, which preserves this remarkable local story of ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and the evolution of everyday communication.
![[WPT][12]Telephone Photo 1 24in wide](https://ah.r3mx.com/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/WPT12Telephone-Photo-1-24in-wide-scaled-square.jpg "[WPT][12]Telephone Photo 1 24in wide")