Arthur Mutual Telephone Company was founded in 1905 by a group of rural farmers in the Arthur community, formerly known as the Bethel community. At the time, nearby telephone companies declined to extend service to the area due to the high costs of reaching such a rural location. Determined to stay connected, the farmers took matters into their own hands.

On December 21, 1908, Arthur Mutual officially filed its Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State. The community’s men installed and maintained the first poles and iron wire lines themselves. Service was operated through a Magneto Switch, with Ruth Mae Colgan serving as the last switchboard operator, a role she held for twenty-eight years. Prior to her, operators included Claude and Grace Moore, Frank and Caroline Mansfield, and Otis and Lillian Kleinhenn.

In 1954, the company secured a loan from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to upgrade the system with an automated switch. Operators were then contracted from Northwestern Telephone Company, now known as Sprint.

Further modernization came in 1968 when Arthur Mutual obtained another REA loan (now known as the Rural Utilities Service, or RUS). The company updated its outside plant, replaced the aging switch with an analog switch, and built a new office west of Arthur at its present location — providing a more central hub for serving customers. Today, Arthur Mutual serves approximately 47 square miles with an entirely underground distribution system.

In 1991, the analog switch was upgraded to a digital switch, allowing the company to offer a full range of modern calling features, voice mail, and DSL internet services to its customers.