Odell Community once had its own telephone exchange, independent of the Bell System. The system was operated by the Johnson Family, who ran it from their boarding house on what is now Odell School Road. The system was built in the years following World War I from surplus electrical equipment and telephone poles harvested from land in the community. At its peak, some 50 families and 5 businesses were on the exchange, which took its "company" name from the nickname of Mrs. Johnson, who served as operator.