But the advent of faxes, then emails and finally SMS messaging saw the numbers dwindle, bringing to an end the golden age of the telegram.īut a handful of companies are carrying on the tradition.
On January 27th, 2006, the world’s most famous telegram agency Western Union announced that it “will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.” For over 150 years the world’s greatest joys, deepest condolences and proudest successes had been hand delivered within their iconic yellow envelopes, written in its own distinctive brief prose.Īt one point in the 1920s, Western Union and its army of uniformed messengers were sending more than 200 million telegrams every year.
Yes, it is still possible to send a personal, hand-delivered telegram.Ī telegram sent to Atlas Obscura’s Editor-In-Chief from Luke Spencer on 22 May, 2015 Today, where disposable instant messaging, emails, texts and tweets are all around us, it is a pleasant surprise to find out that the grandfather of quick communication is still with us. The envelope for a Western Union Telegraph, c.
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