On Labor Day 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced that the Rural Electrification Act would be amended to
     provide loans for the development of modern telephone service in rural areas.  Herman Folkerts, a director of the Albert
     Telephone Company, either heard President Truman make that announcement, or he read the report of the President's
     address which appeared in the Hutchinson Herald the following morning.  Herman took this announcement seriously, and
     visited with neighboring telephone companies about the possibility of consolidating and improving telephone service with
     the help of the REA Telephone Loan Program. Meetings were held with a number of the boards of directors of various
     telephone companies in the area.  In 1952, five of these companies were:  the Albert Telephone Company, the Pivonka
     Telephone Company of Timken, the Farmers Telephone Company of Rush County - Nekoma Exchange, the Rush Center
     Telephone Company, and the Farmers Telephone Company of Rozel.  These five companies agreed to purchase the
     Alexander Telephone Company.
          Representatives of these companies continued to meet and on January 2, 1953, incorporated The Golden Belt
     Telephone Association, Incorporated.  The original board members were:  William F. Schroter, President; Martin Hemken,
     Vice-President; Walter W. Becker, Secretary-Treasurer; Charles M. Arnold; Roland Bahr; Herman Folkerts; James Jecha;
     Parm Renner; and Earl Ratliff.
          On October 20, 1954, David McKay was hired as the first General Manager.  Dave had also heard President Truman
     make the announcement about REA while he and his wife Mary were living in New Jersey.  Mary and Dave decided that if
     congress did amend the REA Act, they would seriously consider moving to Kansas, as Mary was originally from the
     community of Zook, Kansas.  Construction of the system started in the fall of 1955, and all of the exchanges were converted
     to dial service in 1956, serving 722 subscribers.
          On Saturday, March 23, 1957, a snow and ice storm hit the Golden Belt area, breaking over 800 poles.  The following
     Monday, not one telephone in the system was working.  The system was rebuilt over the next 60 days by local labor.
          In 1958, Golden Belt negotiated the purchase of the Bazine Exchange from the Western Light and Telephone
     Company.  During the same year, the Lewis Telephone Exchange, serving the Lewis and Garfield area, held meetings with
     Golden Belt to negotiate an operating agreement and discuss a possible merger.  The merger was completed in April 1960.
          The Otis Telephone Company, The Farmers Mutual Telephone Company of Ransom, The Arnold Mutual Telephone
     Company, and The Brownell Central Telephone Company were acquired in 1961 and converted to dial telephone service.
     The Farmers Telephone Company of Rush County – McCracken Exchange, The Utica Telephone Company, and the Beeler
     Telephone Company were acquired in 1962 and converted to dial service the following year. An operating agreement was
     entered into with the Burdett Telephone Company in 1977, and was merged into Golden Belt in 1981. The Bison
     Telephone Company was purchased in 1982, and was merged into the system. During the early 1980s, all Golden Belt
     exchanges were upgraded to one-party service. In 1997, the telephone exchanges of Ness City and Ellis were purchased and
     merged into the system. The Golden Belt Telephone Association presently operates 18 exchanges, serving nearly 6,000
     subscribers, with over 3,072 miles of fiber in Barton, Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Gove, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness, Pawnee, Rush,
     and Trego Counties.
          William F. Schroter served as President of Golden Belt Telephone from the date of incorporation until his death October
     27, 1986.  Charles M. Arnold, an original board member, assumed the Presidency of Golden Belt Telephone upon William
     Schroter's death, and retired April 1, 1991, after more than 40 years of service to the telephone industry in this area.
          Upon Mr. Arnold's retirement, Steven L. Miller was elected President, and served in that capacity until 1995, when he
     resigned to take a position with Golden Belt.  Frank E. Kershner of Rush Center has served as President following Steven
     Miller's resignation.
          In 1989, Golden Belt placed approximately 120 miles of fiber optic cable in the ground, and brought into service a
     digital host central office in Rush Center.  The remaining central offices were upgraded to digital service by 1991.  From
     1998-2002, over 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable was installed.
          In 1995, Golden Belt entered the cable television service by purchasing the Utica CATV system.  Since then, 17
     additional systems have been purchased.  Golden Belt now serves cable television customers in Albert, Bazine, Bison,
     Burdett, Ellis, Garfield, LaCrosse, Lewis, Liebenthal, McCracken, Munjor, Ness City, Offerle, Otis, Pawnee Rock, Ransom,
     Rozel, Rush Center, Schoenchen, Timken, and Utica.  All towns, except for Offerle, are served from a combined super
     headend located at Rush Center.
          In 1992, and again in 1998, additional office and storage space was added to the corporate office building in Rush
     Center.  Satellite offices were established at Ellis in 1997, and at Ness City in 1999.
          At the present time, Golden Belt Telephone has 29 full-time and 2 part-time employees.  David McKay retired on
     February 1, 1988.  Following this, Golden Belt has had two other General Managers who have both since retired:  Wendell
     Brozek and Arlyn Solomon.  Gerald Washburn presently serves as General Manager of the Association.  The following is a
     list of the current Board of Directors:  Frank E. Kershner, President, Rush Center; James A. Jecha, Vice President, Timken;
     Thayne W. Jones, Secretary-Treasurer, McCracken; Clyde Sutton, Ness City; Keith King, Lewis; Jack Dipman, Burdett; Cinda
     Flax, Ransom.

— From Independent Telephony in Kansas, A.L. Boley, editor.  Heritage House Publishing, Marceline, Missouri, 1990.