Long distance telephone service came first to Hannaford and this was separate from local service which came later. Long distance service was installed in October 1900, and the long distance telephone was located in Jackson's Store. In 1905, the statement was made that if the local telephone service wanted to get to Cooperstown they would have to build a line of their own.
Local service for the communities of Hannaford, Dazey and Walum was installed in 1905. Mr. E. A. Duff was the manager for the three communities and the Hannaford exchange was located on the second story of the drug store building. Miss Anna Nelson and Miss Cora Berg were the first telephone operators. It was called the Central North Dakota Cooperative Telephone Company. There were 258 names in the directory which included 40 in Hannaford and 80 on the rural Hannaford lines. At the beginning the lines were so busy it was decided that nonsubscribers would pay 15 cents each time they used the phone to talk to a subscriber and 25 cents when they talked to a nonsubscriber. By this means they hoped the people who had telephones would get better service. The company was owned by the people of the area as they had purchased shares when the lines were built. In 1922, the head office of the company moved from Dazey to Hannaford. Mr. McGinnes was another early day manager.
In 1946, John Nilsen of Nome and Harry Snyder of Buffalo purchased the "Central Electric and Telephone Company" which was under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Shaw. Leonard was the lineman and Mrs. Shaw was in charge of the switchboard. Mrs. Esther Weller began as switchboard operator under Mrs. Shaw in 1936.
The name was changed to Inter-Community Telephone Company, Inc., in July 1947, and Duane (Digger) Hare became the lineman for the local community. The dial system was installed in August 1959. In June 1963, the Roger Nilsen family made their home in Hannaford when Roger began lineman for the Hannaford exchange. .
Work began the summer of 1975, to upgrade the system to one-party service and direct distance dialing. All the lines at this time were placed underground.
August 1988, saw the end of the old bank-telephone building. It was replaced by a steel storage building.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 209