January 6:

1838 : Morse demonstrates telegraph

On this day in 1838, Samuel Morse's telegraph system is demonstrated
for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, New
Jersey. The telegraph, a device which used electric impulses to
transmit encoded messages over a wire, would eventually revolutionize
long-distance communication, reaching the height of its popularity in
the 1920s and 1930s.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born April 27, 1791, in Charlestown,
Massachusetts. He attended Yale University, where he was interested in
art, as well as electricity, still in its infancy at the time. After
college, Morse became a painter. In 1832, while sailing home from
Europe, he heard about the newly discovered electromagnet and came up
with an idea for an electric telegraph. He had no idea that other
inventors were already at work on the concept.

Morse spent the next several years developing a prototype and took on
two partners, Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail, to help him. In 1838, he
demonstrated his invention using Morse code, in which dots and dashes
represented letters and numbers.
In 1843, Morse finally convinced a skeptical Congress to fund the
construction of the first telegraph line in the United States, from
Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. In May 1844, Morse sent the first
official telegram over the line, with the message: "What hath God
wrought!"

Over the next few years, private companies, using Morse's patent, set
up telegraph lines around the Northeast. In 1851, the New York and
Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was founded; it would
later change its name to Western Union. In 1861, Western Union
finished the first transcontinental line across the United States.
Five years later, the first successful permanent line across the
Atlantic Ocean was constructed and by the end of the century telegraph
systems were in place in Africa, Asia and Australia.

Because telegraph companies typically charged by the word, telegrams
became known for their succinct prose--whether they contained happy or
sad news. The word "stop," which was free, was used in place of a
period, for which there was a charge. In 1933, Western Union
introduced singing telegrams. During World War II, Americans came to
dread the sight of Western Union couriers because the military used
telegrams to inform families about soldiers' deaths.

Over the course of the 20th century, telegraph messages were largely
replaced by cheap long-distance phone service, faxes and email.
Western Union delivered its final telegram in January 2006.

Samuel Morse died wealthy and famous in New York City on April 2,
1872, at age 80.

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General Interest
1838 : Morse demonstrates telegraph
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=52316

1066 : Harold II crowned king of England
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4650

1912 : New Mexico joins the Union
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4651

1919 : Theodore Roosevelt dies
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4652

1925 : Nurmi breaks two world records
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6768

2001 : Congress certifies Bush winner of 2000 elections
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4653

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