While recently reading a copy of Western New York Heritage, a local magazine, I came across an article devoted to Frontier Telephone, who had an early and major history in Buffalo. In the article there were some great pictures, poles loaded with crossarms and insulators, but one really grabbed my attention.

They titled it the "ring pole", and I fell in love with it. However, I have never seen anything like this and was wondering if anyone has seen these before. I just thought it was such an unusual piece that others should (might) want to see it, too.

Stacy Huber 
Alden, New York

The article Stacy refers to states that the Frontier company "does not intend to have any more overhead wires than necessary. This will be accomplished by treating each residential block as a unit. A cable will be laid underground to a conduit in a pole in the rear of one of the houses in the middle of the block" Overhead wire then only stretched from the "ring pole" to the individual home. The article was dated July 28, 1902 Since the insulators were "dead ends", they have wire wrapped round and round them. They look like they could possibly be CD 116's.