Provincetown had hand-cranked telephones until 1938, when 100 Bradford Street was built as the switching center for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, allowing customers to lift their receivers to summon an operator. Until 1966, 16 telephone operators stood by, greeting callers: “Number please.” After Provincetown converted to direct dialing, this was briefly the Chrysler Glass Museum, home of Walter P. Chrysler’s collection of Sandwich glass. The Advocate moved here in 1975 and undertook an expansion and modernization in 1977, designed by John Moberg of Mobic Design-Build in Cambridge, with a newsroom, composing room and two darkrooms. (The presses were out of town.)
The newspaper was here when it was acquired by Duane A. Steele and Mary-Jo Avellar, and then, in 2000, when it was subsumed into its young rival, The Banner.
Building Provincetown 