It's well-known family lore that the Rolla-Chicago branch of the Boenings were heavily involved in the growth of the telegraph and telephone industries in the first half of the 20th century.

Edward Adolph Boening,

From Telegraph and Telephone Age, Aug. 16, 1910, p.544:

Mr. Edward Boening who has recently been appointed superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Seattle is one of the younger men in the telegraph service who have succeeded in attaining prominent positions by reason of perseverance and hard work. He was born at Rolla, MO, November 28, 1874 and became a messenger at Chicago for the Western Union Telegraph Company when only twelve years of age. From that branch of the service, he advanced to the delivery and bookkeeping departments and in 1899 was attached to the office of Superintendent F. H. Tubbs at Chicago. While there he held the claim, estimate and requisition clerkships thus gaining a valuable executive experience.
On March 1, 1903, he was appointed chief clerk in the office of Superintendent C. F. Ames at Boston, March 1, 1905, he became an inspector of the company and on December 1, 1906 was advanced to the assistant superintendency at Boston. On August 1, 1909, he was transferred to the Pacific Coast as assistant to the General Superintendent at San Francisco which position he held at the time of his present advancement.