This line was totally revamped from iron wire to hard-drawn copper around 1910. New (cedar) poles were also set and the added insulators were light aqua and greenish CD 145 "B" beehives mounted upon 10-pin crossarms. This sort of conversion seemed to be the rage elsewhere here in the Northeast with Western Union around that time since these new lines and provided much better service and improved reliability.

The line you see was built around 1890 and probably used crown-embossed Brookfield CD 145s. The latter and some of the hardware such as braces were recycled if in good condition upon the "new" line.

In 1967 all of the forementioned c.1910 construction was removed by Western Union leaving only (much later-installed) signal circuits below. The line crews simply tossed the old crossarms into the brush...with insulators intact. Pursuing this long route soon after its dismantling (I lived in Brockton then) as a kid really was an incredible thrill even though I was lugging home lots of smoke-encrusted...now-considered common insulators heavily packed on my bicycle's rear "paperboy-style" wire-mesh baskets.

That sure was fun.

Added note: The granite block building on the right still stands and currently is the headquarters of the Brockton Police Department. The station on the left was razed long ago, perhaps in the 1950's.

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