Postal Telegraph Company (Postal Telegraph & Cable Corporation) was a major operator of
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
networks in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
prior to its consolidation with
Western Union in 1943.
[Nonnenmacher, Tomas]
History of the U.S. Telegraph Industry
/ref> Postal partnered with Commercial Cable Company for overseas cable messaging.
Postal was founded in the 1880s by John William Mackay, an entrepreneur who had made a fortune in silver mining in the Comstock Lode
The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the U ...
. Mackay's original purpose was to provide a domestic wire network to directly link with the Atlantic Cable. Mackay built the Postal network by the purchase of existing insolvent firms. The company was initially called ''The Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Co''. Under president Albert Brown Chandler, the Postal network was able to achieve sufficient economy of scale to compete with Western Union, occasionally controlling as much as 20% of the business.[
By 1893, the company's rate of growth had allowed it to become the only viable competitor to Western Union. It had grown so large that management had to move out of the company's New York City headquarters at 187 Broadway to accommodate more operations staff. Chandler oversaw the design and construction of the Postal Telegraph Company Building, a new headquarters at 253 Broadway and Murray Street.
In the film of William Saroyan's ''The Human Comedy'' the story is mainly told through the eyes of a teenager working as a delivery boy for the Postal Telegraph Company, and some of the action takes place in the telegraph office.][AFI Catalog]
The Human Comedy
(1943).
References
External links
*
Gallery
File:(King1893NYC) pg215 POSTAL-TELEGRAPH-CABLE COMPANY'S BUILDING, BROADWAY AND MURRAY STREET.jpg, Postal Telegraph Headquarters Building, New York, 1893.
File:Postal Telegraph Messengers. (Indiana has no age limit for messengers.) Indianapolis, Ind. - NARA - 523084.jpg, Postal Telegraph Messengers, Indianapolis, IN, 1912.
File:1909 Postal Telegraph Cable Company stamp.jpg, Postal Telegraph Cable Company stamp, 1909.
File:POSTAL_TELEGRAPH_WIRE_-_NARA_-_515196.jpg, A Postal Telegram, 1942.
Telecommunications systems
Western Union
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