telephone in 1874 and made the first experimental long-distance call to Paris, Ontario in 1876. The following year, retired Baptist minister Thomas Peter Henderson become the first General Agent for the telephone business in Canada. In 1878, the first telephone exchange in the British Empire was opened in Hamilton by Hugh Cossart Baker, Jr. On May 15, 1879, Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. makes Hamilton the site of the first commercial long-distance telephone line in the British Empire. More workers and new immigrants encouraged a nascent trade union movement among skilled craftsmen. Hamilton unionists and other working-class people gave birth in 1872 the Nine Hour Movement, urging the government to limit working hours to nine per day. A more modest but still unstable railway boom marked the last part of the 19th century too. The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was incorporated in 1884, and by 1892 offered limited cargo service and ultimately passenger service. Electrical railways which sporadically linked Hamilton with Grimsby, Beamsville, Brantford and Oakville were established the following decade. 1893–1905 Modernization and business consolidation often went hand in hand with unionization. The HSR converted to electrically powered vehicles in 1892. In keeping with the area’s reputation, the firefighters unionized in 1896. As it was absorbed by Hamilton Electric Light and Power Company in 1899, HSR workers joined Division (now Local) 107 of the predecessor of the current Amalgamated Transit Union. But it was definitely not all work and no play for local residents. In 1894, Hamilton Herald newspaper and cigar store owner Billy Carroll established the Around the Bay Road Race. The route circumnavigates Burlington Bay and, although it is not a proper marathon, it is the longest continuously held long distance foot race in North America. It was won by such sporting greats as William "Billy" Sherring, Tom Longboat and Sam Mellor. Adelaide Hoodless and other founded the first Women’s Institute in Saltfleet Township (Stoney Creek) in 1897 and began her educational campaign for home economics. A year after she died in 1910, one of Hamilton’s many new schools was named in her honour. Hamiltonians, like other residents of the colonies, discovered one of the darker sides of British Imperialism when the South African War broke out in 1899. Men from Wentworth County and other Canadians volunteered to serve in the Canadian Mounted Rifles or North-West Mounted Police contingents. Although they excelled at the bitter guerrilla war