Mrs. Verna Hurley Carrigan was the daughter of Minnie and Robert Hurley and granddaughter of Ed and Anna Webster. Ed Webster, Carrigan's maternal grandfather, started the first commercial telephone system in Alaska in 1893 with Frank X. Bach, in Douglas. By 1898, Bach left for the Klondike. Webster purchased Bach's interest in the company and moved the operation to Juneau. In 1910 it was re-named the Juneau-Douglas Telephone Company. In 1915 Webster built a switchboard station on what is known today as Telephone Hill in Juneau. After his death in 1918, his wife, Anna, operated the business with her children and grandchildren. Following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, Verna Carrigan served as the telephone company's vice president and chief operator until 1968 when the family business was sold to Continental Telephone Company. Verna Hurley Carrigan died in Juneau in July, 1992.
From the description of Verna Hurley Carrigan photograph collection, 1880-1945. [graphic]. (Alaska State Library). WorldCat record id: 49938831
