The Telegraph in Wisconsin 1845-1878

Wisconsin was quick to pick up on the new technology promoted and improved upon (though not actually invented) by Samuel B. Morse, forever known to Americans as the father of the telegraph. Before the advent of wire-based, electric communication technology, messages travelled only as fast as the people who delivered them. In the early 1840's Wisconsin was still the frontier; plank roads and rivers carried people and postal material between cities and towns.

The telegraph did not eliminate these means of communication but added another possible means of information transmission. The network of wires, offices and services became a progressively important part of the information infrastructure until the late 1870's, when the telephone usurped the telegraph as the technology du jour.

• Hardware-- Devices, wires, poles and Morse code.

• Uses & Users -- News, business communications, alert systems.

• Liabilities -- Human censorship and error, natural disasters.

• Citations -- Literature references.

Wisconsin Mosaic Home

Frautschi Letters Home