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LUCK TELEPHONE COMPANY
On March 7, 1908 a meeting was held at the Laketown Town Hall to organize the Luck Telephone Company, known then as the Equity Telephone Company. A committee was appointed. They found poles were too expensive to buy, so it was decided members would cut tamarack and white oak poles from their own swamps and woods. They were paid fifty cents for each twenty-foot pole. Rural lines supplied multi-party service, with ten to twenty-three telephones on each line. Code rings were assigned to each patron, such as two short and two long rings, or three long rings and one short ring. These were magneto, or hand cranked telephones. Any subscriber on the line could listen to all conversations, hence the name "rubber-neck" was applied to all noisy listeners. Six long rings meant "fire" and everyone rushed to the phone to find out whose house or barn was burning. At west Luck, the company secured an option on a building owned by Carl Peterson. It was later purchased, and remains to be the site of the company today. Telephone rates in 1920 were set at $2.00 per month for party lines, with a 25 cent discount if paid in advance.
The early thirties brought rate and wage reductions of 20%. Saturday, October 22, 1938 was to be long remembered, as disaster struck all the pole lines going east and west. Some eighteen inches of very wet, heavy snow had fallen during the night, coating every wire, cross-arm and pole. A brisk wind toppled the heavily laden poles unto the highways, leaving a mass of broken poles and wires. Snowplows became entangled in the fallen wires. Every available man was hired to pull poles and wire off all highways. It took two months to get the whole plant in working order again. The sixties found the company expanding new dial service throughout the exchange. A new central office was built in Luck and the other building and equipment was moved to Cushing to begin their telephone operation. The seventies brought the desire to provide one-party service to all subscribers. Cellular service began the summer of 1990. Luck Telephone partnered with Cellulink Cellular Service. In 1992 Luck Telephone became instrumental in helping the Luck Fire Department and the Luck Medical Clinic secure REA loans. In July of 1995 Luck Telephone Company and Milltown Telephone Company along with four other independent telephone companies purchased Vision Communications Cable TV. Local Internet Access became a reality in 1995. Luck Telephone merged with Milltown Telephone in January of 1997. Luck Telephone's general manager, John Klatt, was appointed President and CEO of the new organization, Lakeland Communications.
January 1, 2002 Lakeland Communication's subsidiary Lakeland Telecom, purchased several properties from Vision Communications. Lakeland Telecom will now offer the cable TV services to the communities of Luck, Milltown, Balsam Lake, Centuria, Frederic and Cushing.
March 4th, 2002 marked the first day of a new endeavor for Lakeland Communications. Lakeland Communication's subsidiary Lakeland Telecom, opened telephone service up in the Balsam Lake and Centuria communities. Lakeland Telecom offers local telephone service, long distance, Internet, DSL, Paging, Cellular and Cable TV as a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC).
2003 - 2004 brought about new construction for Lakeland Communications with the headquarters building being relocated in Milltown at 825 Innovation Avenue. The 12,000 square foot building brought new room for many areas the current facilities had been lacking. The new building sits atop a hill south of Milltown in an excellent location for all customers in the area. Lakeland is very proud of this addition both for the company and the community. The company relocated the Milltown Office to its new location on June 1, of 2004. As of 2005 Lakeland employs 20 full time individuals. Lakeland is fortunate to have two office locations in Luck and Milltown to help all customers conveniently.
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