•May 18, 2016•

By Jerry L. Ginther
NP Columnist

The landline telegraph was, in its day, the fastest and most dependable mode of communication available. Used by companies such as Western Union for sending messages known as telegrams over long distances, it became a large and profitable business especially for urgent matters. The newspapers also made use of this rapid method of disseminating their breaking news stories across the continent in a matter of minutes, where prior to its use news traveled very slowly, taking days to reach distant locations.

Telegraph offices were located mostly in railroad depots in every town along the tracks. At its inception, the railroads were the primary providers and users of this communication system, using it for their daily operation to know the location of each train on their lines. The station operator would telegraph the arrival and departure of the trains to a dispatcher, thereby providing him with the information needed to arrange meeting points between opposing trains.

With the advent of the landline telephone system, the telegraph became less and less used as a speedy method for transmitting messages for the public but was still relied upon heavily by newswire services, railroads and even for large operations occupying several floors in the same building, such as the stock exchanges. These businesses used a closed circuit telegraph system within the building they occupied.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.