Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company

Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company
Company type	Private company
Industry	Telecommunications equipment
Founded	1897 in Chicago, United States
Founder	Milo G. Kellogg
Fate	Acquired by ITT Corporation (1952), later became part of Alcatel N.V.
Successor	ITT Kellogg, Alcatel N.V.
Headquarters	Chicago, United States
Area served	United States
Key people	Milo G. Kellogg (founder)
Products	Telephone exchange apparatus and equipment, divided multiple telephone switchboard
Parent	ITT Corporation (from 1952)

The Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company played a significant role as an American producer of telecommunication devices. Established in 1897 in Chicago by electrical engineer Milo G. Kellogg, the enterprise took advantage of the lapse of early Bell System patents to manufacture telephone exchange apparatus and equipment.

Together with rivals such as Western Electric, Automatic Electric, and Stromberg-Carlson, Kellogg was a major supplier to the United States' telephone equipment sector up until the period following World War II.

History

Milo G. Kellogg, originating from a distinguished New England lineage, earned dual engineering degrees from the University of Rochester. He later moved to Chicago through marriage into a prominent local family.

During the 1880s, Kellogg held executive positions at both Western Electric and the Southern Telephone and Telegraph Company. Foreseeing the expiration of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent in 1897, he launched the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company. With over 150 patents to his name, Kellogg developed the divided multiple telephone switchboard, which became the company’s signature product due to its enhanced efficiency for urban telephone exchanges. The company mainly served independent local telephone providers.

Battle for Control

In 1901, while Milo Kellogg was ill, his brother-in-law Wallace DeWolf mismanaged the firm and covertly sold a majority stake to Western Electric. DeWolf also supported Western Electric's attempt to acquire competitor Stromberg-Carlson, igniting a fierce shareholder dispute that resulted in Stromberg-Carlson reincorporating in New York in 1902.

Upon regaining health, Milo Kellogg contested the stock transaction in court. The Illinois Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Cragg (1907) and Dunbar v. American Telephone and Telegraph (1909) reinstated his ownership rights, ensuring control over the company’s strategic management.

1903 Labor Strike

In 1903, Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company encountered a significant strike initiated by Brass Molder's Union Local 83 alongside the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Backed by the Bell Telephone Trust—which held most of Kellogg’s shares—the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, and the Employers' Association of Chicago, Kellogg secured a court injunction to halt the Teamsters’ sympathy strike. The company declined negotiations, dismissed nearly 90% of its employees, and ultimately succeeded in ending the strike.

Post-World War II Developments

In 1952, ITT Corporation gained controlling interest in Kellogg Switchboard and marketed its products under the ITT Kellogg brand for approximately ten years. By 1958, ITT Kellogg had secured a contract with the U.S. Air Force to supply ground communication systems for ballistic missile installations. That year also saw Kellogg open a manufacturing plant in Raleigh, North Carolina, which produced telecommunications transmission equipment until 1990; subsequently, this facility shifted focus to research and development until closing in 2003.

In 1987, ITT divested its telecommunications product lines—including ITT Kellogg—to French company Alsthom, leading to the formation of Alcatel N.V. ITT retained a 37% ownership stake in Alcatel until it exited the telecom equipment sector by selling its shares in 1992. The former Kellogg customer-premises equipment division located in Corinth, Mississippi was renamed Cortelco and sold in 1990 to former ITT executive David S. Lee. In 2008, eOn Communications, with Lee as chairman and CEO, agreed to purchase Cortelco Systems Holding Corporation for up to $11 million.

Bibliography

Adams, Stephen B., and Butler, Orville R., Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Clarke, S.J., Chicago: Pictorial and Biographical. Volume 2, Deluxe Supplement. Chicago (1912).
Cohen, Andrew Wender, "Business Myths, Lawyerly Strategies, and Social Context: Ernst on Labor Law History." Law & Social Inquiry. 23:1 (January 1989).
Cohen, Andrew Wender, The Racketeer's Progress: Chicago and the Struggle for the Modern American Economy, 1900-1940. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Ernst, David R., Lawyers Against Labor: From Individual Rights to Corporate Liberalism. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
Chicago Daily Tribute, Facing Defeat Unions Weaken (July 18, 1903)
Gable, Richard W., Birth of an Employers' Association, Business History Review, 33:4 (Winter, 1959).
Chicago Historical Society, Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000); Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Co. Chicago (2005).

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