Since Haviland Telephone Company, now Haviland Broadband, was acquired by the Ellis family 71 years ago, many improvements, expansions and enhanced services have been added bringing the total subscribers to over 2600. Haviland Broadband currently serves the following communities: Haviland, Nashville, Argonia, Conway Springs, Norwich, Mullinville, Sawyer, Wilmore, Isabel, Riverdale, Coats and Cullison, Greensburg and Coldwater.
The Ellis family farming operation supported the Telephone Company for the first few years until REA financing became available. Howard and Eva Ellis worked long, hard hours for many years to not only keep the business running but to continually upgrade and improve the quality of service. The Ellis children, Charles, Norma and Robert became active in the company in one capacity or another starting in 1949 and continue up to the present. Howard Ellis was killed in a car accident in 1982 at the age of 74, having been very actively involved in the company’s activities right up to the last day. He was well known throughout the industry and has been sorely missed by his colleagues, his community and his family.
Norma (Ellis) Jones working switchboard (1951)
Eva Ellis working in front office of dial office (1951)
Dial office (1951)
In December of 1991, Haviland Telephone sold to Universal Service Corp. of Irving, Texas. September 26, 1994, The Lynch Corporation acquired Haviland Telephone. The Lynch Corporation is a diversified company with subsidiaries in multimedia, service and manufacturing. Mark Wade of Haviland serves as VP of Operations for all of Lynch Corporation Kansas companies including JBN Telephone and Giant Communications, both headquartered in Holton, KS.
Since the Ellis family purchased the company in 1949, Haviland Broadband (then Haviland Telephone Company) has been serving the people of South Central Kansas, looking towards the future to ensure our customers have the latest technology available to them. In 2004, Haviland Broadband invested several million dollars into our buried facilities. In several key distribution routes, copper cable was replaced with fiber optic cable, improving the quality of voice service and giving us the infrastructure to provide customers virtually unlimited bandwidth for faster Internet connections. As a result, Haviland Broadband is the leader in providing upper tier download speeds to rural customers in South Central Kansas.
In 2009, Haviland Broadband established wireless internet service – GMAXX – within the community of Greensburg when its communication infrastructure was severely compromised after the 2007 tornado. Haviland Broadband expanded these services to Coldwater in 2011.
In 2019, Haviland Broadband made major changes to its offerings. A fiber service was initiated in the city of Greensburg and a data only offering was made available. In celebration of our 70th anniversary, and in recognition of the importance broadband services played in the future of our business and our communities, Haviland Telephone began doing business as Haviland Broadband in September 2019.
The employees of Haviland Broadband are proud of our heritage and strive to continue the tradition of helping the communities we serve prosper.