Thanks to Elizabeth Knowlton for her wonderful recommendation of the "Real Estate Record." While doing research on particular areas of interest, I came across a wonderful article describing the problems of apartment building owners who wanted to give telephone service to their tenants. This article is from 1917. Great read! "Suggestion offered to solve telephone problem in flats" http://ldpd.lamp.columbia.edu/rerecord/document.php?vol=ldpd_7031148_060&page=ldpd_7031148_060_00000842&no=6