 Even in those days, Plymouth Notch did not have telephone service or electricity. Word had to be sent by telegram. It was first received at the next village down from Plymouth, the town of Bridgewater. The dispatcher received the telegram, and he himself drove the news in the middle of the night to Plymouth Notch. He arrived around midnight. It was pitch black. He knocked on the family's door and gave the news to Calvin's father, Colonel John Coolidge.