Radio Cab History 1950's
Also in 1950, we moved our offices from 1715 S.W. Salmon, to 1776 S.W. Madison. We now had an office, a dispatch room, and a driver’s room. Dudley Lapham, our manager at the time, had the foresight to see the need to build up the night business. He installed direct line phones in clubs, taverns and motels. This enabled frequent callers to make immediate contact with dispatch, by simply lifting up the receiver on a phone, without having to dial. This really helped the night business. Portland was a night town, with a lot of clubs and after hours places. The downtown area was alive and well.
During the ‘50’s, Mr. Lapham also managed to work a deal, to purchase the cabs and operating permits owned by Union Cab Company. This added 30 more cabs to our fleet size, and made us a solid enough company, to make City Hall listen to us whenever the occasion arose.