Bank of Canton

the pagoda building here was the Chinese Telephone Exchange.
1891, the first public telephone pay station was installed in chinatown.
in 1894, a small swithchboard (chinese telephone exchange) was set up to serve subscribers to the telephone system.
the 1906 earthquake destroyed this building and it was restored.
the exchange closed in 1949 when technology change from a switch operator system to rotary dailed phones.
in1960, the bank of canton bought and restored this building. and operated it as a branch of the bank thereafter.
this location is now East West Bank after East West acquired United Commercial Bank which acquired Bank of Canton..