White Pages contact & background

Whitepages.fr
is rooting in a long long Telecom history.
Everything started at VB
an old old mansion in the heart of Paris.
Our history goes back to the year 1129.

Back in 1640 VB became the school of a little boy
that was already famous as a child,
young King Louis XIV (1638 - 1715)




1671 January 21 started a new adventure
Leon Pajot I (1625est - 1668) and Louis Rouille (1630 - 1694)
two entrepreneurs bought VB
from Nicolas V de Villeroy,
the former tutor of the 3rd Bourbon King.


They had the idea to create
an avant-garde "Telecommunications" Company.
They called it "La Poste".

Over the years VB turned into a hi-tech center
in the Kingdom of France.
By the time of their grandson Louis Leon Pajot (1678 - 1754)
horses were carrying letters from VB in Paris
to 900 Post Relais
all around France, up to Venice, Italy.

The Post relais were at a distance of 30 km of each other,
so that mail could continue it's route with fresh horses
while tired horses could rest after their trip.
Carrying a letter from Paris to Brussels took 33 h in the summer
and 39 h in the winter.

For "international mail"
the Pajot & Rouille family needed exchange partners
with infrastructures covering other territories.
The most important ones were the Brussels and Francfort based
Thurn & Taxis Postal family
organising mail in the Habsburg terriories
(today Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy etc)


Anselm Franz 2nd Prince of Thurn & Taxis (1681 - 1740)
the postman you can see with his Posthorn in the Whitepages Logo
came by horse to meet with Louis Leon Pajot
common grandson of the founders of "La Poste".
King Louis XIV (1638 - 1715) that knew our VB mansion from the time he was a child
loved our "La Poste" for the quality of it's service.

1738 mai 21 our first Telecom adventure came to an end.
The next King
Louis XV (1710 - 1774) was irritated by the glamour of the Postal family.
Parties given at VB outshined everybody else.
Overnight the king, that had absolute powers,
withdrew the postal license.
End of a story.
The VB mansion fell asleep ...



Over the years the VB story started to be forgotten in Paris
but it remained in the memory of the Thurn & Taxis postal family.
They didn't want to lose their company
upon the decision of another King.
Also by mirracle the VB mansion remained unchanged.




248 years later




1986 January Johannes 11th Prince of Thurn & Taxis
comes to Paris for the Fashion Week
He meets a young student who is captivated by the unbeleivable stories
about his ancestors, Postman carrying letters around Europe
with their horses.
4 months later Thurn & Taxis returns to Paris.
After meeting in a cafe
he shows the student the magical VB mansion.


Thurn & Taxis has an idea that is a little crazy
wake up
"Spirit of Telecommunications"
fallen asleep in the still existing walls
of the old old Postal Mansion.


A week later the visit results in the keys
of a tiny next door Boutique,
11 rue des Halles 75001 PARIS1
and the mission to find a new idea
in the world of Telecommunications.

A few thalers left by Anselm Franz finance the project.



When you are just twenty years old
and someone gives you the keys of a little Boutique in Paris
a lot of adventures are waiting for you ...

The Boutique opens as a Service center of Sony telephones.
The phones cannot be sold as they were not approved by the national PTT
(Postes Telegraphes Telephones)
but no law prohibits repair service or the sale of accessories.

Telephone Lovers come by
living in Paris or travelling through the French capital.
One of them was Lady Diana (1961 - 1997)
giving a touch of glamour to the little Boutique.

Sadly Thurn & Taxis died 1990,
but Spirit of Telecommunications
continued to wake up.

more about the history of the Thurn & Taxis



1993 june the Sony Phones
and a little jewel left by the designer Coco Chanel
to Aimee de Heeren, a magical friend of Thurn & Taxis
make it possible to get a loan
to buy the legendary Cremerie de Paris
right in the old VB mansion.


1995 at Cremerie de Paris opens a Callback Phone Agency
allowing people from France
to place calls with much cheaper rates
using a phonecompany from California.
Soon followes the first Internet Cafe in Paris.

Business is rough as the cafe is a little ahead of time.
Cut electricity lines, breaking down phone switches,
interrupted internet connections
one trouble after the other ...

Well when a Telecom Hotspot has been asleep
for two and a half centuries
it takes some time to wake up ...




mid 1990s it is still impossible to find internet access in Parisian Hotels.
This brought to our place all kinds of American web-pioneers
travelling through the French capital.

One of them was the inventor of dot com.
Jon Postel (1943 -1998)
was captivated by the long long Telecom history of VB.
He pushed us to register iconic domains.

Among the 676 Two Letter Domains,
only two are in France, one in Paris.


Another one had been on the first flight to the moon.

more about our Telecom history




Under the influence of the visitors of the internet cafe
and of our Telecom background
cames alive the Phone Book of the World