Incorporated in 1900 by U.S. Representative Robert H. Foerderer, a leather industrialist who had won the grand prize at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Keystone operated as Philadelphia's independent alternative to Bell, making it the last major American city with two competing telephone companies. Because it had fewer exchanges, Keystone used shorter 5-digit phone numbers and advertised itself as "the fastest telephone in Philadelphia." Most businesses kept both a Bell and a Keystone phone on their desks. Keystone is credited as the first phone system to install all wires underground rather than on overhead poles. Bell acquired the company for $13.4 million in 1944, ending service on September 17, 1945.
