By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Last Friday marked the close of an era in telecommunications. It wasn't widely reported in the media; I don't think it made CNN, Fox or the broadcast news. But for those of us in the communications business, it's a historic milestone.

The telegram is dead.

After 145 years of service, Western Union has discontinued sending telegrams. The "Send Telegram" link on the company's web site links to this terse statement:

"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative."

Though the telegram has been largely replaced by other communications venues -- telephone, e-mail, cellphone, etc. -- its long history of service to business and consumers is too enormous to overlook.

This 1853 map of telegraph offices shows Bardstown as one of the early cities to have telegraph service. Note the type on the name "Shelbyville" as "Sherbyille."

The telegram can trace its origins back to the father of the telegraph - Samuel Finley Breese Morse. Contrary to common belief, Morse was not a scientist or communications expert - he was first and foremost an artist, well known in the mid-1800s for his portraiture.

Morse developed the idea of an electromagnetic telegraph system while he sailed home from Europe in 1832. Morse didn't know mechanics and he didn't know much about electricity, so he brought in a number of people who helped him bring his idea to fruition. By 1837 Morse had a working telegraph developed. It wasn't until 1844 that he secured a grant from Congress to fund the first telegraph line, which stretched from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

On May 24, 1844, Morse and his assistant, Stephen Vail, unveiled the first telegraph line, with Morse sending the famous message "What hath God wrought," a
Bible verse from the Book of Numbers. Thus kicked-off an era which forever changed the way Americans and businesses communicated. The telegraph was such a revolutionary device that it is often referred to as "The Victorian Internet."

The use of the telegraph exploded across the country. By 1853 - nine years after Morse's first line was unveiled - even Bardstown had a telegraph office. It was one of the few small towns in Kentucky to have one.

Telegraphy moved from landline to radio as this new medium was pioneered. Radiotelegraphy allowed worldwide communication of news and information. Commercial telegraph companies developed ways to automate the transmission of telegraphy at high speeds to produce faster throughput of message traffic.

I don't know when Western Union quit using telegraph keys in its offices, but telegraphy was probably abandoned as faster electronic data communications were developed. But the telegram was still envisioned as a connection back to the days of landline telegraphy and the clicks and clacks of a telegraph sounder.

This telegraph key by the J.H. Bunnell Co. became the standard style key for use in telegraph offices for years.

Telegraphy and message sending lives on, however, as a part of the traditions of amateur radio. Many amateur radio operators (aka ham operators) enjoy sending and receiving Morse code by radio. For many of us (this writer included) there's a bit of nostalgia involved. Many operators will put aside their computer-controlled Morse code keyers and take up a manually operated key, and "pound brass" like the Western Union telegraphers of old.

My current Morse code key is a semi-automatic key produced in 1925 by the Vibroplex Co. of New York. The key has lived a tough life, and from the wear and tear it must have spent a good many years working as a landline telegraph key. While inspecting the key the first time I used it, I found the neatly inscribed letters "WAR" on the base. Was this key used at WAR, the U.S. Army communications station in Maryland? Or is the inscription simply a previous owner's initials or a nickname?

It doesn't really matter much, I guess. When I turn the switch from "STANDBY" TO "TRANSMIT" on my old vacuum tube transmitter, there's nothing that matches the rhythm of those old-fashioned dits and dahs spirally through the ether.

First Data, the company that owns Western Union, announced last week plans to spin-off the company.

Western Union is growing in its role as a global payment transfer business, and First Data plans to have the split completed by mid year. Analysts say Western Union is worth $20 to $25 billion.

What is it that's fueled Western Union's explosive growth? Immigrant labor. Millions of immigrant workers come to the U.S. with the hope of finding good jobs -- and sending money to family "back home."

Western Union was formed in 1851 in a round of acquisitions and mergers of regional telegraph companies. First Data bought the company in 1995.