Keeping You
Connected!

Guy A. Draper purchases the company from Johnston and builds the operation as a family business.

The Smithville Telephone Company (STC) acquires the Gosport exchange in Owen County, extending Smithville’s primary incumbent local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) residential network. Smithville leads the state in converting its rural operations from party lines (manual operations) to stand-alone dial tone service. The Stanford Exchange is created and they absorb the Clear Creek Manual Exchange. Shortly afterwards, all of its exchanges are converted from manual operations to dial technology.

The Star Telephone Company at French Lick is acquired and converted to dial service.

Smithville Telephone Company acquires eight properties including Hymera, Lyons, Marco, Switz City, Sharpsville, Goldsmith, Griffin and Lizton and coverts them all to dial technology.

Greene County communities, served by the Scotland and The Farmers Cooperative Telephone Company were joined with Owensburg Cooperative Telephone Company and converted to dial technology.

STC acquires Stewartsville Mutual Telephone Company and combines it with the Griffin exchange.

The Newberry Telephone Corporation merges with the Lyons Exchange.

Pleasantville incorporated Telephone Company merges with the Lyons Exchange.

Patricia A. Earles, Draper’s daughter, takes over as Smithville’s President and Chairman of the Board following his passing.

Ms. Earles starts an eleven-year process to convert all twelve Smithville exchanges to digital service.

Smithville constructs its first Fiber-optic rings, connecting Ellettsville, Stanford and Smithville (Indiana) offices with Indiana Bell’s Bloomington facility.

Smithville acquires its first Internet customers after setting up a dial-up server one year after the Internet becomes a public network.

William H. Earles succeeds his wife Patricia as President and Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Earles leads Smithville into the new millennium with the addition of long distance and communication services including high-speed Internet. Smithville merges with BlueMarble Telecom and begins offering the high-speed DSL service with BlueMarble functioning as the Internet service provider and Smithville providing the service.

William Earles passes away and his daughter, Darby A. McCarty, becomes President, Chairman and CEO of Smithville Communications. Ms. McCarty launches a renewed focus on innovation and technology adoption, creating Smithville Digital (later Smithville Fiber) to offer customized high-speed data and Internet services. Darby’s son, Cullen H. McCarty is named Vice-President of the new Smithville commercial operations.

Smithville Communications secures $90 million in federally-backed commercial loans and begins an overbuild to convert all residential and business customers to a full Fiber-optic network, and acquires its first residential Fiber customers. In helping to announce the expansion, then Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman calls Smithville the “State Champion of Fiber Broadband”. The city of Columbus selects Smithville over national providers to develop and manage its Fiber operations.

Smithville begins to expand its commercial enterprise operations to provide high-speed secure Fiber service to hospitals, manufacturing operations, schools banks and other entities. Smithville also begins providing high-speed secure Fiber service to the WestGate @ Crane Technology Park next to the $2 billion NSWC federal lab in Southern Indiana and the Purdue research Park in West Lafayette. In the same year, Smithville receives its first “Top 100 Broadband company” designation from Broadband Communities Magazine. This achievement begins an ongoing multi-year distinction for the company. Smithville TV is also launched.

Smithville acquires a small Telephone Company in Arkansas called Rice Belt Telephone and converts its services to Fiber.

Smithville turns up its residential Fiber service to a full gigabit – an Indiana first. The one-month free trial validates its service.

Smithville starts to bring Fiber to each of its Internet cabinets. The project gives its DSL customers much faster and reliable speeds. Smithville expands its CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) service into the city of Bloomington for the first time. It constructs an all-symmetrical gigabit (1000 megabits) network for the Blue Ridge neighborhood. This project serves as a prototype for projects to follow.

Smithville is selected by the city of Jasper to build Indiana’s first GigaCity, which attracts national attention. The five-year expansion project will provide all Jasper residents with access to Smithville’s new gigabit symmetrical service (1000 Mbps up and down). The company adopts a new Smithville Fiber brand for use in its CLEC expansion areas.

Smithville turns on its first Fiber customers in the city of Jasper. Smithville also begins a $4.5 Million, 100 gigabit, Fiber ring that will enable the company to provide national high-end data transmission for commercial clients. Smithville expands it CLEC operations into Bloomington in the Lakes’ neighborhood area, which will eventually include retail businesses, apartments and more than 250 homes.

Smithville begins converting all of Ellettsville, the location of the company headquarters, to Fiber Internet.

The company receives two Next Level Connection Broadband Grants that are part of the state of Indiana infrastructure program to help expand broadband services in rural parts of the state.

Smithville signs its 20,000th data customer.

Smithville finishes the City of Jasper Gigacity project.

Smithville celebrates 100 years of connections.

Wi-Fi+ for the home and for business is launched enabling Smithville subscribers to control their networks using the helpful Smithville app.

Cullen McCarty, fifth-generation owner and 28-year employee of Smithville, is appointed chief executive officer of Smithville Telecom, LLC. This marks the first phase of a meticulously planned succession co-architected by Darby McCarty and Cullen McCarty in 2021.