Anecdotes & testimonies

The Verviers telephone exchange was beginning to become overloaded. It needed to expand, and Pepinster was in an ideal location. A telephone exchange was installed on the first floor of the post office on Avenue de la Gare. After a few years of operation, it became the first automated exchange in the metropolitan area. It didn't take long for the Telephone Authority to realize that the Pepinster network would eventually become overloaded. Already, with an eye toward the long-term future, on February 8, 1933, the Régie purchased a plot of land and a house on Rue du Duc. This was no easy task: suddenly, there were many interested buyers for these properties, located right in the heart of Pepinster and away from heavy traffic. Administrative formalities would drag the process out. It will be necessary to purchase and exchange land or buildings in order to create a cohesive whole. It will even be necessary to buy a building, demolish it, and cede a three-meter strip of land to provide easy access to another property. These sales and purchases will ultimately be finalized after the liberation in 1944. It was about time. On August 7, 1946, there were 342 subscribers in Pepinster. The telephone exchange at the post office had a capacity of 400 lines. On May 10, 1947, the Regie filed an application to build a telephone exchange on Rue du Duc, with a capacity of 800 lines. That capacity was quickly outgrown, and today, the 1946 figure has increased fivefold. While the choice of Rue du Duc as the site for this telephone exchange may have been somewhat arbitrary, this location is situated almost at the center of a large population center comprising the neighboring municipalities. Including Pepinster and Cornesse, the network extends down the valley to the Purgatoire Bridge; it covers the municipalities of Wegnez, Soiron, and even Xhendelesse.