Blackduck Telephone Company began around 1903 as part of the Blackduck Electric Company. It was founded by a land surveyor named Marcus D. Stoner, who also had founded the town of Blackduck in 1901. Mr. Stoner also owned other businesses in town, including a saw mill. One man who worked in that mill was Nels Lien, who emigrated to Blackduck in 1905 from Twin Valley, Minnesota. Mr. Stoner could not afford to pay Mr. Lien the $500 in wages he had accumulated, so he gave him the telephone company instead. At that time, there were fewer than 50 town phones, the magneto crank type.

The year 1939 ushered in the second generation of Liens to Blackduck Telephone Company. At the time there were 68 phone subscribers who paid $1 per month for local service. Rural rates were $.33 per month. Nels Lien’s only son, Herbert, bought the company from his parents and began the task of updating the company by installing a new common battery Automatic Electric switch board, and customers for the first time heard “number please.”

The year 1958 was a big year for telephone subscribers in Blackduck as they said “good-bye” to central (local operators) and “hello” to dial telephones. For the first time, Blackduck’s 500 customers could complete local calls without an operator. Blackduck Telephone Company expanded in 1963 when an agreement was reached to buy the Hines telephone exchange five miles to the south.

In 1971, the third generation of Liens joined the company. Herb Lien, Jr. returned home to join in the business. In 1973, the company began applying for a loan from the Rural Electrification Administration to upgrade the facilities. This culminated in 1976 when the company acquired the township farm switcher lines, installed nearly 200 miles of underground cables, constructed a new headquarters building, and installed a new switch. Telephone customers were then offered the luxury of modern “storm proof” facilities, touch-tone service, all private lines, Extended Area Service (EAS) to neighboring towns, and a wide selection of telephones. The project cost about $1.25 million. in 1976 another of the third generation Liens, Richard, joined the company and assumed the position of Plant Manager.

In 2004 the Company applied for and received approval of a $5.7 million loan from the Rural Utilities Service.  This loan will be utilized to bring fiber optic cable closer to our customers and provide broadband services, including high speed Internet and digital cable television to a greater number of our rural customers.  This project is scheduled to begin in June, 2005.

Today, Blackduck Telephone Company serves customers in two telephone exchanges: Blackduck and Ash River.  We offer state of the art telephone services, cable television, and high speed Internet.