Oklahoma State University history

1877: Acoustic phonograph: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison made incredible strides in sound recording and transmission when he completed the first acoustic phonograph in August of 1877.

A permanent settlement was begun in April 1889 in the first great Oklahoma land run.

The story of Oklahoma State University began on Christmas Eve, 1890, at the McKennon Opera House in Oklahoma’s territorial capital of Guthrie when Territorial Governor George W. Steele signed legislation establishing an Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (OAMC) in Payne County.

OAMC’s first students assembled for class on December 14, 1891, even though there were no buildings, no books, and no curriculum.

1893: Wireless telegraphy: Nikolai Tesla was the first to successfully transmit radio waves wirelessly through a transmitter in 1893.

The college’s first six graduates received their diplomas in 1896.

1915: First North American transcontinental telephone calling: Alexander Graham Bell is back in the history books again after he made the first coast-to-coast call by phone in January of 1915 to his assistant.

After R. O. Winter’s death in 1916, the company was sold to the local electric company, owned by Corbett Packaging.

The fledgling company was incorporated in Delaware on September 25, 1925, as the United Telephone & Electric Company.

1927: Television: Phillip T. Farnsworth made media history on September 7, 1927, when he demonstrated the first working television set.

In August 1929 he was ready to dedicate the Tower, which featured "Foshay" etched in ten-foot-high letters on all four sides to be illuminated every night, and spent close to $120,000 on a three-day celebration, attended by a number of dignitaries.

1930: First experimental videophones: In 1930, AT&T had decided to create a two-way experimental videophone they called the Iconophone.

1934: First commercial radio-telephone service, United States-Japan: The first radio telephone calls from the United States to Japan were first made in 1934.

Upon Brown's death in 1935, United Telephone & Electric fell into receivership.

1936: World's first public videophone network: The world, now in the throes of World War II, sees the first public videophone network installed in Nazi Germany in March of 1936 during a trade fair.

In November 1938 the company was incorporated in Kansas as United Utilities, Inc., along with seven telephone companies and Central Kansas Power.

In July 1944 the Oklahoma Constitution was amended to create a separate Board of Regents for the state's agricultural and mechanical colleges.

1946: Limited-capacity mobile telephone service for automobiles: In June of 1946, the first telephone call was made from an automobile phone.

President Truman fully pardoned Foshay in 1947, and ten years later, all but forgotten, the one-time utility mogul died in a Minneapolis nursing home.

The first acquisitions came in 1948 with the addition of Bangor Gas Co., based in Bangor, Maine.

In 1950, the Union Club Hotel, now known as the Atherton Hotel, opened and has since been an integral component of the program, serving as the professional training ground for hotel operations and guest services.

By 1953 United was ranked fifth among United States independents.

In order to fund growth he implemented an innovative two-tier stock arrangement in 1955.

1956: Transatlantic telephone cable: The first 36-circuit transatlantic telephone cable was installed in 1956.

The third stage of development ended in 1957.

Henson joined United Utilities in 1959, with a master's degree in electrical engineering, doctoral work in mathematics and physics, and experience as chief engineer for Lincoln Telephone Company.

By 1960 United Utilities was the third-largest telephone holding company in the United States, with 467,000 telephones operating.

When Robert and Dozier Helmly began managing the company in 1962, they developed a vision for the future that combined the company’s 58-year tradition of community service with a commitment to seek out and implement the very finest technologies available.

To transmit such calls, AT & T required the use of United's facilities, for which it agreed to pay $1.25 million for the 12-month period ending June 1, 1963.

The 1964 purchase from AT & T of a 45% interest in Inter-Mountain Telephone Company, servicing Virginia and eastern Tennessee, made United a major contender in the telephone industry.

United Transmission Inc. was a new venture developed in 1965 to design and operate community antenna television systems (CATV). Through United subsidiaries, communications systems were beginning to merge.

By far the most forward-looking venture United engaged in at the time was the December 1967 acquisition of Automated Data Services Company, Inc., renamed United Computing Systems, Inc.

By late 1968 North sold three-quarters of its services to the Bell System, other independents, industrial companies, and computer manufacturers.

A significant merger at this time was Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company, completed in March 1969.

More opportunities for expansion in business telephone equipment manufacturing came early in 1970 when the FCC changed some of its regulations.

In contrast, at the end of 1971 United's basic telephone operations accounted for 90% of company profits.

The unregulated businesses needed more attention, however; United Business Communications was not profitable in its second year, while United Computing barely edged into profitability by 1972.

1973: First modern-era mobile phone: Inventor Martin Cooper placed the first cellular mobile call in 1973 to his rival at Bell Labs, Joel Engel.

In a further move to position itself as a major competitor in telecommunications, United sold Central Kansas Power for an undisclosed amount in November 1977.

In November 1979 the company acquired Pittsburgh-based On-Line Systems, a $29.2 million company offering database management for defense, manufacturing, and energy-related applications.

In March 1980 the company launched Uninet Inc., the third-largest packet network to compete with similar services of GT & E's Telenet.

Because of recent acquisitions and increased competition from new players in computer-aided design, including IBM, United Information Systems lost $1.4 million in 1981.

In a further shuffle, in January 1983 United moved into the business of industrial and marine distribution with the purchase of Aeroflow Dynamics and its subsidiary Argo International.

The June 1984 purchase of Dallas-based United States Telephone Communications, Inc., also paved the way for United Telecom to offer broad-based service to business customers as well as long distance services.

A big opportunity came on July 1, 1986, when United Telecom and GTE Corporation, formerly GT & E, United's competitor for 50 years, entered into a joint venture.

By March 1987 US Sprint's losses forced GTE into a corner; Canada's Belzberg family bought much of GTE Sprint stock, hoping to make GTE sell its shares.

By June 1988 United Telecom calculated it had spent $1.5 billion on US Sprint.

In August 1989 US Sprint acquired full ownership of Private Transatlantic Telecommunications Systems, Inc. (PTAT), including a 50% interest in the PTAT fiber-optic cable system.

Paul Henson, after 31 years with United Telecom, announced his retirement as chairman in April of 1990.

Jerry Leon Gill, A History of International Programs at Oklahoma State University (Stillwater: Oklahoma State University, 1991).

James H. Boggs, comp., A History of Governance at Oklahoma State University (Stillwater: Oklahoma State University, 1992).

Telecom industry veteran Weihua Zhang, the architect of the 1994 “Shanghai Infoport Plan” (the first metropolitan information infrastructure blueprint in China) appointed company President.

In 1995 Citizens acquired Flex Communications, provider of long-distance telephone, voice mail, paging, cellular, and private data services to 5,500 customers in Albany, Syracuse, Johnstown, Norwich, and Middletown, New York.

Conference-Call USA was acquired for stock in December 1996, and a year later Ogden Telephone Company was bought in a $23.5 million deal.

When the stock market crashed two months later, ushering in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Foshay's empire was revealed to be ethereal, nothing more than paper profits, a kiting scheme in which continuous sales of Public Utilities stock kept the enterprise afloat. It was not revived until 1997, when Twin Cities residents chipped in to buy the rights and the "Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March" was performed once again.

In November 1998 Citizens spent another $80.9 million to acquire Rhinelander Telecommunications Inc., a holding company for a Wisconsin telephone company.

In 1999 it paid $664 million for 187,000 access lines from GTE Corporation, and later in the year agreed to a $1.65 billion deal to acquire 530,000 rural phone lines in nine states from US West Communications Inc.

Electric utility operations were sold for $535 million in February 2000.

2001 – China joins the World Trade Organization, adding the nation’s 1.3 billion people to the modern global economy.

2002 – China Telecom Americas incorporated, receiving our 214 license from the Federal Communications Commission and making China Telecom the first Chinese telecommunications provider to enter the United States market.

In December 2003 Citizens announced that it would retain a financial advisor to explore "strategic alternatives," prompting speculation that the company would either be sold to a private equity firm or lopped off into individual pieces.

All speculation about a possible sale came to an end when Tow resigned as CEO and chairman in July 2004.

2005 – China Telecom Americas completes its nationwide telecom network in the United States.

In January 2006 she would also assume the chairmanship of the company.

On January 1, 2011, Home Telephone began doing business as Home Telecom.

In the fall of 2016, the north wing of Human Sciences was opened, moving the school into offices on the third floor and opening new facilities for our students.

After 80 years of being a leader in global hospitality and tourism education, the school changed its name to the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in 2017.

In July 2019, the school joined the OSU Spears School of Business to create more synergy for collaborative educational efforts between HTM and business degree programs.