It all started with the
presidential election of 1904.

Oneida County Rural Telephone founder, Ellis Jones, organized a group of neighbors together to start a telephone company to share the results of the 1904 election. Almost 22 years later, Peter McCarthy, the first generation of the McCarthy family, acquired OCRT. In 1964, the next generation of OCRT’s history began with brothers Peter McCarthy II and Jeremiah McCarthy, who helped shape Northland Communications into the leading telecommunications provider it is today.