that others were waiting to use the lines. In addition, Rochester Telephone received many orders for the installation of new equipment which it was unable to fill. By the war's end, the company's waiting list had grown to include 8,000 names. In 1944 Rochester Telephone sold stock to the public for the first time. Demand for telephone services continued to grow astronomically in the postwar years, and the company found itself unable to keep up with its customers' needs. Rochester Telephone struggled to raise capital to provide for expansion and conversion to more efficient dial switching, and in the meantime, urged its customers not to make nonessential calls. Rochester citizens, relatively tolerant of the company's weaknesses during the war, responded in the postwar period with frustration and criticism. Letters to local papers characterized phone service in the area as 'wretched' and 'outrageous.' Eventually, a state regulatory agency undertook an investigation of Rochester Telephone's operations. By 1948, Rochester Telephone had a backlog of 12,000 requests for telephone installation. In that same year, the company was finally able to commence a program of conversion to dial telephone service. The costs of this program caused the company to eliminate the dividend on its stock for that year. Partial relief for the company's financial woes came when Rochester Telephone was granted two consecutive rate increases, which provided the company with $1.4 million in extra funds. Rochester Telephone in the late 1940s faced a severe public relations problem. Open house events at its manual switching centers in 1949 helped to appease the public somewhat, but soon, tempers rose again, as consumers complained about the company's slow and unreliable service. In the 1950s Rochester Telephone made a number of stock offerings to pay for its long overdue capital improvements. By 1954 the company was finally able to respond promptly to requests for service. Rochester's population and economic base grew rapidly during the decade, particularly in outlying suburban areas, and Rochester Telephone's operations grew along with them. By the end of the decade, the company had 290,000 phones in service, and its revenues and earnings had more than doubled. This growth in earnings was possible, in part, as a result of rate increases that the company won in 1951 and 1954. In 1958, when Rochester Telephone petitioned the state public utilities commission for yet another rate increase, the anger of some of its customers again spilled over