Telegraph Message From Annapolis Junction

7/28/2019 Telegraph Message From Annapolis Junction

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AnnapolisJunction,MDandtheMorseElectromagneticTelegraphsFirstPublicSuccess,May4,1844

By:GeorgeAnderson,May4,2011

Ithasbeen167yearssinceSamuelF.B.MorselocatedinthethenSupremeCourtRoominthenationsCapitolreceivedthefirstpublicnewsmessagefromhispartner

Alfred Vail transmitting inMorsecode from anopenplatformbeside the railsat

Annapolis Junction, MD. The message announced that the Whig Party candidate forPresident would be Henry Clay, and his running mate would be Theodore Frelinghuysen.

The attendees from the Baltimore Whig convention left Annapolis Junction by train, andarrived in Washington to find the news was already being announced in the city by the

local papers. Writing in a letter to the New York Times in 1909, Stephen Vail, Alfredsson relates more intimate details about this event and makes a strong public case for the

message being recognized as the first historic use of the line.1

Morse had received a commission from Congress on March 3, 1843 to build ademonstration telegraph line fromWashington,DCtoBaltimore, MD and hewas

less than a month from completing this task. The geographical significance of

AnnapolisJunctionwasthatitlayroughlyequidistant(20-22statutemiles)fromthe

1NewYorkTimesJanuary23,1909,letterfromStephenVail.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0710F8395D12738DDDAF0A94D9405B808CF1D3

Figure1.AnnapolisJunctioncirca1860


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three principal cities of Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis. It was also the

junctionoftworaillines.ThetwolinesweretheBaltimoreandOhio(B&O)andtheAnnapolisandElkRidgeRailroads(A&ER).TheB&OranfromBaltimoresMount

Clair Station to the outskirts of Washington DC. The Mount Clare Station todayhousestheB&Orailroadmuseum.MorsehadobtainedagreementtousetheB&O

rightofwaytoerectwhatwouldbecomethenationsfirstsuccessfullongdistancecommunications network. Technically, it was based on regulating the flow ofelectricityfromprimarybatteriescalledGrovecellsovertwoconductorsstrungon

poles to a receiving instrument. These cells were the high tech source of on-

demandelectricityin1844andbecausetheyemittedpoisonousnitrousfumeswhile

currentwasflowingwouldnotpassmusterwiththeEPAtoday.

Figure2.MapshowingAnnapolisRailroadJunctioncirca1878

FromvariousrecollectionsandsomestudyoftheearlierAnnapolisJunction,one

cansurmisethatAlfredVailprobablysetuphistelegraphinstrumentwithin100feetofthepointwheretodaytheCSXrunningontheoldB&Orightofwaypasses

underMDRoute32.Figure3.Showsagraveltowerthatstandsatthelocationofthe

originalrailstationandplatform.An1860directoryliststwohotels,arailstation

andapostofficeinAnnapolisJunction.Today,theonlyenduringmemoryofthis

originalcommunitythatIhavefoundisthroughtheverbalreminiscencesofpersons

whoateatHenkelsrestaurantupuntilthemid1990s.HenkelsRestaurantoccupiedwhatlikelywasthestructureofoneoftheoriginal2hotelsthatstood


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acrosstherailsfromthestation.Thesame1860,recordshowsthatonehotelwas

calledthe

Figure3.AlfredVailmostlikelytransmittedthefirsttelegraphmessagenearwhere

thegreendumpstersitstoday(2011).

ParkhurstHouse,ownedbyaMr.GeorgeBell.Theonlyothersurvivingstructure

fromthiseraisGrassland,an1854plantationhouseandoutbuildingsbuiltby

WilliamAndersonthatonecanseeontherightsideoftheroadalongNational

BusinessParkway.

Currently,thereisnoMarylandHistoricalMarker(MHM)inAnnapolisJunctiontocommemoratethishistoricevent.TheclosestMHMrelatingtothetelegraphison

Route1,inBeltsville,MDfixingapointontherouteofthefirsttelegraphline.2

PerhapsitistimethatAnnapolisJunctionproudlydisplaysitsstorytoremindtelecommunicationsprofessionalswheretheirprofessionbegan.AlfredVailsson,

Stephen,wouldagreeandmightevenhavesucceededindoingthishimselfhadhenotdiedfourmonthsafterpresentinghiscaseintheNYTimes102yearsago.

2

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MD_Historical_Marker_First_Telegram.jp

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ThankstothefirstpublicmessagesentfromAnnapolisJunction,thisdisruptivenew

technologyspreadrapidlyamongthecommercialenterprisesthathadthemosttogainfromit.Therailroad,anearlypartner,wassurprisinglyslowtorecognizeits

valueindispatching,safetyandallowingbetterresourceutilization.Incontrast,thesecuritiesmarketswereamongthefirsttodeveloplocalareanetworksusing

specializedinstrumentsthatwereuniversallycalledtickerstotransmitstockandcommodityquotesinnearrealtime.Theexpansionofthetelegraphanditseventualconsolidationmanyyearslateristhelifecyclemodelweperhapsseebeing

repeatedwiththeInternetanditsenablingtechnologies.

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Telegraph Message From Annapolis Junction