The circuits you see on the right undoubtedly carried LOTS of telephone conversations! And they did among a great many glass insulators, too... (where are they buried today?). At any rate this is a classic view of what many towns and cities looked like with tall telephone circuits pararelling their main thorofares during c.1890-1910. On the left are more telephone and perhaps (as well?) telegraph wires. By 1910 tall open-wire telephone lines through downtowns in the US were upgraded/dismantled in favor of paired enclosed cables...installed either above or underground.