Early events , site of Morse's 1838 telegraph demonstration. in 1845. •
1826-27: Harrison Gray Dyar successfully experiments with electrical telegraphy but abandons the pursuit. •
1836:
David Alter of
Pennsylvania develops a working electrical telegraph system, but never develops the idea into a practical system. •
Jan 1837:
Samuel Chester Reid proposes that the U.S. Congress fund an
optical telegraph (semaphore line) from New York to New Orleans. •
Sept 1837: Morse employs
Alfred Vail to improve his telegraph from demonstration purposes for a share of future patent rights. •
1843 :*
3 March 1843: The United States Congress appropriates funds for
Samuel Morse to lay a telegraph line from
Washington, D.C. to
Baltimore. :*
21 October 1843: Originally Morse decided to lay his wire underground, and asked
Ezra Cornell to lay the line using a special cable-laying plow that Cornell had developed. Wire began to be laid in Baltimore on October 21, 1843, but the project was stopped after 15 km of wire was laid because the line was failing. Morse learned that
Cooke and Wheatstone in England were now using poles for their lines, and he decided to follow that lead. :*
16-18 September 1845:
Orrin S. Wood builds a short telegraph line of about one mile from
Utica, New York to the city fairgrounds (the site of that year's
New York State Fair), for public demonstration. :*
September 1845:
Henry O'Reilly commences building line intended to extend from Philadelphia to St. Louis. Work on first segment begins in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, heading east to Philadelphia. :*
7 November 1845: Wood builds a line from
Buffalo, New York to
Lockport, New York (about 30 miles) that goes into operation on November 7 - the first line opened for regular commercial business. The first message announced the electoral victory of the Whigs in
Niagara County. :*
November 1845: November 14, 1845
New York Herald notes another short planned line, the "Boston Marine Line", which, similar to the New York Offing Line would be a line from Nantasket outside Boston to inner Boston to transmit news from incoming ships. In a letter to the
Herald dated February 23, 1846,
Ezra Cornell noted that the Boston line had not yet been put into operation. :*
24 November 1845: Line from
Lancaster, Pennsylvania to
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (about 35 miles) is completed, but not operational until January 8, 1846. :*
November 1845: In the fall of 1845, the Magnetic Telegraph Company commences building a line from Philadelphia to New York. By early November, a 14 mile segment from Philadelphia to
Norristown, Pennsylvania had been laid, and opened due to great public interest in the work. , the Buffalo-Lockport line, a short stretch in Philadelphia, and the New York-Coney Island line. By year's end, lines ran from Washington to Boston, west to Pittsburgh, and north from New York City to Albany and west to Buffalo. Rapid expansion was continuing.
1846 :*
8 January 1846: Line from
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to
Lancaster, Pennsylvania opens. The first telegram from Harrisburg to Lancaster was "Why don't you write, you rascals?" The line did not yet connect to Philadelphia, and only stayed in service until March 1, 1846; Harrisburg service restarted on October 5, 1846. :*
31 January 1846: Line from
Albany, New York to
Utica, New York (96 miles) is open. :*
26 March 1846: Boston line reaches
Hartford, Connecticut. :*
1 May 1846: Boston line reaches
New Haven, Connecticut about May 1. :*
5 June 1846: With completion of link between
Baltimore and
Philadelphia, line from New York City to Washington, D.C. by Magnetic Telegraph Company is now operational. :*
3 July 1846: Albany line reaches
Buffalo, New York. :*
24 July 1846: Line from
Troy, New York opens to
Saratoga Springs, New York. Line is orphaned from larger network until Albany-New York City line opens on September 9. :*
September 1846:
Lancaster, Pennsylvania connected to Philadelphia. :*
9 September 1846: Albany-New York City line opens. Service is extended to
Elmira, New York later in the year. Elmira service stops after a few months due to lack of business; a new service begins in 1847. :*
5 October 1846: Harrisburg reconnected to service to Lancaster, and thus now to Philadelphia as well. :*
29 December 1846: Line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is reached on December 26 and goes into service on December 29. :*
March 1847: Morse's Magnetic Telegraph Company buys the
Baltimore-Washington telegraph line from the U.S. Government. :*
21 April 1847: Service to
Fredericksburg, Virginia from Washington is established. :*
10 May 1847: New line from Philadelphia opens to
Reading, Pennsylvania. :*
17 May 1847: Line from
Reading, Pennsylvania reaches
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the intended ending point of this new line. :*
8 July 1847: Telegraph station opened at
Wheeling, West Virginia (then Virginia). :*
25 July 1847:
Richmond, Virginia reached from Washington, D.C. line. :*
3 August 1847: Toronto line extended to
Montreal by the Montreal Telegraph Company (which had hired
Orrin S. Wood). :*
August 1847: Line from Pittsburgh reaches
Cleveland, Ohio. :*
4 September 1847: Leg from north reaches
Petersburg, Virginia. :*
17 September 1847: First transmission to
Dayton, Ohio. :*
29 September 1847: Station opened at
Madison, Indiana. :*
12 October 1847: Line to
Binghamton, New York put into service. :*
26 November 1847: Line leg between
Vincennes, Indiana and
Louisville, Kentucky opens. :*
29 November 1847: Line completed from
Detroit, Michigan to
Ypsilanti, Michigan. :*
1 December 1847: On Southern project, line segment between
Charleston, South Carolina and
Columbia, South Carolina opens. :*
15 January 1848 Line opens from
Chicago, Illinois to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. :*
28 January 1848: Chicago line extended east to
Michigan City, Indiana. :*
2 February 1848: Line from
Troy, New York opens through
Burlington, Vermont. Line enters
Vermont at
Bennington and passes through
Manchester,
Rutland,
Castleton, Whitehall,
Orwell,
Brandon,
Middlebury, and
Vergennes. It was soon after carried through to
Montreal via
St. Albans. :*
14 February 1848:
Charleston, South Carolina connected to line from the North. :*
March 1848: Line from
East St. Louis, Illinois crosses
Mississippi River to
St. Louis, Missouri. Storm on 4 May 1848 topples one of the masts used to string wire across the river. :*
7 April 1848: Line from Nashville extended south to
Tuscumbia, Alabama. :*
12 August 1848:
Dubuque, Iowa reached. :*
28 December 1848: Leg between
Calais, Maine and
Saint John, New Brunswick (80 miles) is operational.
1849 :*
20 January 1849: After many trials, the line from Baltimore to New York City is finally extended across the
Hudson River at
Jersey City. :*
1 May 1849: Southern line at
Macon, Georgia extended north to
Atlanta, Georgia. :*
11 October 1849: Line reaches
Norfolk, Virginia. •
22 September 1853: First line in
San Francisco opens between Lobos Hill and Telegraph Hill, superseding a four year old optical line. •
Later 1854:
Houston, Texas,
Galveston, Texas, and other Texas towns reached by telegraph line. •
1856: Service within Oregon extended south to
Corvallis. Link to San Francisco not completed until 1864 (see timeline). •
1856: The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company merges with the
Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company Spread to continental and intercontinental service •
1858 :*
4 August 1858: Line from San Francisco opens north to
Yreka, California (about 190 miles north from
Marysville). :*
16 Aug 1858: The first
transatlantic telegraph cable between North America and Europe starts operation, but fails after three weeks; a reliable new cable is not established until 1866. :*
30 August 1858: First service to
Knoxville, Tennessee. :*
October 1858: Line reaches
La Crosse, Wisconsin. :*
20 December 1858: Line west to
Kansas City, Missouri from
Boonville, Missouri is completed. •
1859 :*
Mid 1859: Western United States line reaches east to
Carson City and to
Virginia City by latter part of the year. •
1860 :*
3 April 1860 The
Pony Express starts operations, running from
St. Joseph, Missouri (where the rail and telegraph lines from the east ended) to
San Francisco (Sacramento to San Francisco leg by steamer, rest by horse). :*
3 April 1860 Line starts operating from
Springfield, Missouri to
St. Louis, Missouri via Bolivar and Jefferson City. The line was later extended to
Fayetteville, Arkansas and
Ft. Smith, Arkansas. The road from St. Louis to Springfield to Ft. Smith was known as Telegraph Road or Wire Road, later
Old Wire Road. :*
28 August 1860: Line from
St. Joseph, Missouri, constructed by W.H. Stebbins, reaches
Brownville, Nebraska, and communications commence the next day. :*
29 August 1860: Line reaches
St. Paul, Minnesota. :*
1860: Nebraska line reaches
Omaha, Nebraska. :*
8 October 1860: San Francisco-Sacramento line extended all the way to
Los Angeles and starts service. This is as far east as line reaches before work to finish transcontinental line start in July 1861. :*
31 October 1860: Nebraska line reaches west to
Fort Kearny,
Nebraska. :*
14 November 1860: Line opens in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. :*
25 July 1861: In west, transcontinental line reaches Middle Gate Station on the Pony Express line, 75 miles east of
Fort Churchill. :*
5 August 1861: A team laying wire reaches
Fort Laramie from the east. :*
21 August 1861: California newspaper reports that its latest news from the Pony Express came from the Willow telegraph station 50 miles west of Fort Kearney, and then traveled by horse to the Dry Creek station, 168 miles east of
Fort Churchill. The total gap between ends of the line was now about 1,159 miles, not counting the unconnected section under construction from Salt Lake. :*
17 September 1861: In west, telegraph line is operational to Diamond Springs (Nevada) station on Pony Express. Messages from San Francisco can now reach New York in six days. :*
20 September 1861: Eastern line operational to a point 120 miles west of Fort Kearney. :*
28 September 1861: California newspaper reports that line from Fort Kearney, Nebraska has reached about 200 miles west to
Julesburg. Another eastern work team has reached 300 miles east from Salt Lake City, only about 200 miles west of Julesburg. In the west, the line has been completed to
Ruby Valley (now Nevada, then Utah Territory), somewhat over 200 miles to reach Salt Lake. (The distances reported in the article are not exact.) The total gap in telegraphic connection between west and east is now about 550 miles, which the Pony Express can normally cover in less than four days. :*
2 October 1861: Newspaper report shows eastern line now operating through Sweetwater Station (near
Independence Rock in
Wyoming). :*
17 October 1861: A link between line headed east from
Salt Lake City is joined to the eastern line at
Fort Bridger. Creighton telegraphs his wife "in a few days the two oceans will be united." :*
18 October 1861:
Brigham Young sends first official telegraph message from Salt Lake City to the eastern United States. It is sent to
Jeptha Wade, the president of the
Pacific Telegraph Company. On the same day, Frank Fuller, acting governor of Utah, sent a message to President Lincoln. :*
24 October 1861: The
first transcontinental telegraph across the United States is completed at
Salt Lake City, Utah, causing the
Pony Express to close two days later. •
10 October 1863: Line opens to
Denver, Colorado. •
March 1864: Service from San Francisco reaches north to
Portland, Oregon. •
1865:
International Telecommunication Union is formed •
18 July 1866: A new
transatlantic telegraph cable between North America and Europe is successfully completed. •
1870: Telegraph lines from Britain are connected to India. •
20 November 1871: Service to
Winnipeg opens. •
1871: Practical duplex telegraphy system, allowing two messages to be sent over wire at the same time, one in each direction. •
1872:
Dallas, Texas reached by telegraph line. •
October 1872: Australia is linked to the world system by a submarine telegraph line between Darwin and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). •
1874:
Thomas Edison sells his invention of
quadruplex telegraph to Western Union for $10,000. It allows a total of four separate signals to be transmitted and received on a single wire at the same time (two signals in each direction.) •
October 1902: The first trans-Pacific line links Brisbane, Australia to Vancouver, Canada (via
Fiji and
Norfolk Island).
End of telegraph era •
27 January 2006:
Western Union discontinues telegram services. Indian company
BSNL continues telegraphic service into 2013. ==See also==