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Article: Western Union Telegraph Company
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
The Western Union Telegraph Company resulted from the 1856 merger of Hiram Sibley's New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company and lines controlled by New York businessman Ezra Cornell. At Cornell's insistence, the newly formed venture was named Western Union to represent the consolidation of western telegraph lines.
During its first years, Western Union expanded rapidly by systematically acquiring its competitors. By 1861 it had completed the first transcontinental telegraph line, uniting the Union and providing rapid communication during the Civil War. The system proved so efficient that it prompted the ...