In February 2018, LHTC acquired the stock of a holding company, LTC Communications, and its subsidiaries, Lackawaxen Telecom, Inc. (LTI), Lackawaxen Telecommunications Services, Inc. (LTSI), and Lackawaxen Long Distance Company (LLDC), in Rowland, PA. LTC was formed in 1905 and was organized under the name of Hawley and Lackawaxen Telephone Company. Like Laurel Highland Telephone Company, area residents had begun to organize in response to the need they saw in the community for a communications system. Consequently, some of the leaders and original investors in the young phone company were store owners, woodsmen, farmers, and members of the Forest Lake Club. Originally, the company had two exchanges; one in a house in Bohemia, and the other in the Lackawaxen area. Eventually, the Bohemia exchange was discontinued, and the final location of the other original exchange was on the riverbank, just before the approach to the Lackawaxen Bridge.
In 1953-54, E.Y. Stroud, of Dingman’s Ferry, PA, acquired controlling shares in the company. Under his leadership, Lackawaxen Telephone restructured its finances through its participation in the federal telephone loan program made possible by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in Washington, D.C. This expansion enabled the company to complete its cutover from the old magneto hand-crank system to modern dial tone in January 1957. After Mr. Stroud’s passing, Mrs. Mildred Stroud took over as LTC president. In overseeing the company’s operations. In 1972, Hale S. Coughlin, Jr., of Fayetteville, NY, purchased the Stroud family’s shares and became majority shareholder. Mr. Coughlin worked diligently to expand LTC’s operations and to set the groundwork for the company’s status today. From the old magneto system that served less than 100 subscribers in the off-season, Lackawaxen now serves close to 2,000 customers. In December 1996, LTC established a long-distance subsidiary, Lackawaxen Long Distance, to provide customers competitive long-distance rates coupled with the benefit and convenience of a provider located in the community. In September 1997, LTC began to offer local, dial-up access to the Internet and then eventually deployed DSL service to bridge the Digital Divide in Wayne and Pike Counties.
