What Happened to the WU Office Buildings
As information is discovered, it will be published here. This is an ongoing project for which your help is needed. Please send information via email about your city and your former Western Union office building to the webmaster, Harold Smith at harold@comcenter.net.
New York - 60 Hudson Street. The Western Union Building (1930; Voorhees, Gmelin &
Walker), is a noteworthy building by architect Ralph Walker. Nineteen
tones of brick shade the facade from deep red brown at the bottom to bright salmon at the
top. Walk through the lobby to West Broadway. Finished in brown brick with
recessed lighting and geometrically patterned brickwork and marble on the floor, the
lobby gloriously exemplifies Art Deco materials and techniques.
From Telegraph News No. 135, May-June 1967.
In the dark corridors and wheezing elevators of Western Union's penitentiary-style red brick headquarters. . . .
That's how a recent (and otherwise most favorable) magazine article about Western Union began. It's the sort of left-handed compliment that makes public relations people very large users of asprin. With friendly articles like that, who needs enemies?
But this time, no one turned a hair. Why?
For one thing, the description was near-target. The cavernous lobby at 60 Hudson Street was definitely gloomy. The elevators could find few defenders. They did wheeze. And the massive 24-story building could by no stretch of the imagination be called cozy.
But the fact remained that the WU headquarters building was once considered a showplace that architecture students were brought to admire.
It was the last, and one of the most impressive, examples of the once flourishing art of decorative brick-work. How many employees knew that the exterior was faced with nineteen shades of red brick, ranging from reddish-brown at the base to bright salmon at the top? Or that the high vaulted ceiling of the lobby was similarly decorative? Or that the halls were lined with fine marble, not just in the lobby where it would show, but on every floor?
No one knew. Few cared. And gradually the building began to acquire that wallflower look all unloved things get.
Like Cinderella, all it needed was a Prince Charming. Which brings us to the main reason the statement we quoted wasn't taken too hard. Because, one day, Prince Charming appeared -- not just one, but dozens. They climbed all over the walls, and went over the floors inch by inch, and tore out a wall here and a ceiling there, and when they were through . . . a transformation! On one side of the main entrance, the gleaming new computer center; on the other, a showplace branch office. It was dfficult to say which was more attractive; both were striking advertisements for the company. The scrubbed and brightly lit lobby gave off a warm glow; the cafeteria was marvelously appetizing. New elevators went up with a whoosh instead of a wheeze. And on every floor, cheerful pastel colors began to replace the ubiquitous green paint that somebody years ago had decreed was to be the color of every office in the world.
Sixty Hudson Street had turned into a very nice building indeed . . . which in its heart it had been all along.
The building is now the nerve center for international communications and is known as the most important carrier hotel in the world. The lifeblood of the Information Economy pulses through this building's sturdy infrastructure, with fiber optic cable packing the risers, the building is home to at least sixty-five telecom companies. The 943,000 square foot facility was built between 1928 and 1930 at a cost of $45,000,000 which equates to $428,000,000 in today's market. It initially housed seventy million feet of cable and thirty miles of conduit. The infrastructure has been greatly expanded today.
A brief cross section of the larger tenants include: Qwest Communications, Global Crossing, Cablevision Lightpath, AT&T, TimeWarner Cable and Telecom, WilTel Communicatons, Verizon, Viatel Global Communications, Cable & Wireless (Europe), Intermedia Net, Teleglobe America.
Atlanta, Georgia - 56 Marietta Street.
Caption for photo at right: Western Union building Atlanta . . . headquarters of the southern
division. Also located here is the second district superintendent, plant and engineering
area superintendent, city superintendent, traffic manager, and accounting center. The
Atlanta reperforator center which is also in this building is the telegraph nerve center for
the entire southeast.
From Telegraph News No. 36, January 1956.
Atlanta thrives as the established capital of the Southeast in commerce, industry, transportation, communications, finance and education. "Gone With The Wind" brought everlasting fame to Atlanta, however, it can hardly be termed an old city. It had only 10,000 people when Sherman burned the town. Today there are nearly a half million people residing in Atlanta.
Atlanta is a busy growing city. Some southern folks even call it a Yankee town. The
Chamber of Commerce says it is and it isn't. A lot of Yankees have come to Atlanta full of
plans and they walk fast, even though they are not in a hurry to get where they are going.
After a while they slow down their walk, but they keep their plans, having learned that in Atlanta
they can take time to live and still get things done.
Much like 60 Hudson Street in New York City, this building is now fully dedicated to the telecommunications and internet industry which includes over 250 telcommunications and related companies. In 1999 Marietta Street Partners, LLC redeveloped this former Western Union headquarters building into what has become Atlanta's premier and only exclusive carrier hotel. The photo at right is the building as it appears today,
The Western Union building is the second telecommunications building to occupy the 56 Marietta Street site. In 1908 Southern Bell opened a new building in downtown Atlanta. This building housed their second central office called "Ivy" and became the new location of Southern Bell Headquarters. In 1920, Southern Bell opened another new building at 25 Auburn Avenue. Their Marietta Street location was demolished. Western Union acquired the land and had their own building constructed.
Baltimore, Maryland - 108 East Baltimore Street
Caption for photo at right: Western Union's main office is at 108 East Baltimore Street.
There are five branch offices, including Fort George G. Meade, and eight messenger stations.
Nearly 300 employees serve this area.
From Telegraph News No. 59, March, 1958.
Baltimore is a fascinating place of contradictions and paradoxes. It has trim row houses and large private estates. it is an old city, yet has kept pace with the times. The Port of Baltimore is second only to New York in foreign trade while the Bethlehem Steel Company's Sparrows Point plant is one of the world's largest steel plants.
Chesapeake Bay has always played an important role in the history of Baltimore. The Bay offers unparalleled shipping facilities and provides for a large fishing industry. The new seven and one-half mile Chesapeake Bay bridge provides an economic union between Baltimore and the highly productive Eastern shore of Maryland. Another major project designed to speed motor traffic around was the cross-harbor tunnel completed last year.
Baltimore's industries are many and varied. It is the home of the giant Glenn L. Martin aircraft company. Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation operates one of the largest single plants in the United States for the production of sulphuric acid. One of the three centers of Olin Mathieson's Western Union Plan 111-A private wire system is located in Baltimore.
Geographically speaking Baltimore has something for everyone. It is located on the water and yet the mountains of Western Maryland are only a short drive away. It is the nation's sixth largest city and an industrial giant. However, its location astride the Mason-Dixon line provides Baltimore with a great deal of the charm of the old south. The surrounding countryside is famous for its race horses and fox hunts.
From Western Union News Vol. 9 No. 5, March, 1976.
After more than a half century at 108 East Baltimore Street, Western Union's Baltimore Public
Office and Technical Facilities installations have been relocated to completely modernized facilities
in the Stanbalt Building at 501 St. Paul Place.
Approximately $2,000,000 was spent to make the new Baltimore office the most modern in the Western Union system.
The move became necessary when the Mass Transit Authority of Baltimore required the East Baltimore Street space for a new subway entrance.
Charles Whittenberg, Area Manager -- Technical Facilities, was determined, once the necessity for moving arose, that the new location in the Stanbalt Building would house the most modern Wire & Repeater facilities possible to devise. Research and planning commenced immediately to determine the most advantageous equipment and methods of circuit handling.
Several months were consumed in the planning, layout work, and circuit design. Much of the equipment used was designed internally as it was not available from commercial sources. This equipment was assembled on site.
All equipment is housed in cabinets and installed on raised flooring. With no overhead obstructions, the office has the appearance of an airy, spacious and well-lighted computer center. its walls are done in orange and blue, with beige paneling.
The Public Office occupies space on the first floor of the Stanbalt Building. Technical Facilities uses the second floor.
Boston, Masachusets - 230 Congress Street.
Caption for photo at right: Boston's Western Union building houses the automatic
switching center, eastern division's third district headquarters, plant and engineering
area headquarters, accounting center and central office. Thirty branch offices
serve Boston while the total number of Western Union employees is nearly 800.
From Telegraph News No. 47, January 1957.
Schoolchildren learn about Boston because of its prominence in American history. Yet history is but one phase of Boston's greatness among American cities. It is an industrial and financial giant and a cultural center as well as a world famous port. Boston is the unofficial capital of the reawakened New England area which is switching from textiles to electronics. Boston alone now has 10% of the nation's electronic industry. From Boston's modern high speed automatic switching center, Western Union provides telegraph service for the New England area.
Metropolitan Boston contains 83 cities and towns with a population of two and a quarter million people. However, Boston proper has just over 800,000 residents who live within 43 square miles, the smallest area of any major American city. Contrast this with a new city such as Houston which hs over 600,000 people in an area nearly three times the size of Boston proper.
Boston is an easy place in which to get lost if you are a stranger. . . .The streets, laid out on old paths and cow walks, twist and turn and double back. To properly "see" Boston you must do it on foot and this leads to many discoveries such as the famous restaurants which specialize in the cod and the bean not to mention lobsters and New England boiled dinners. The charming old homes on Beacon Hill and Louisburg Square remind one of sections of London and Paris.
Harvard University in Cambridge and MIT are but a subway ride from the center of Boston. Located in Boston proper are Boston University, Boston College and Northeastern University,
Boston isn't quite the cold proper New England town many would have you believe. It's a great cosmopolitan center which opened its gates to thousands of immigrants. Who, after all, hasn't heard of the Boston Irish? More recent immigration of thousands of Italians have added to the city's interesting make-up.
Chicago, Illinois - 427 S. LaSalle Street.
Caption for photo at right: The headquarters of Western Union's Lake Division
is in this building at the corner of LaSalle and the Congress Street Super Highway
at the southern edge of The Loop. Approximately 2,600 persons are employed by
Western Union in Chicago.
From Telegraph News No. 25, January, 1955.
Chicago, sprawling giant of the plains, in little more than a century has grown from a handful of settlers to the fourth largest city in the world. America's second largest city talks of the present and the future, because compared to the capitols of Europe and even the eastern cities of the United States, Chicago has only a brief past.
Chicago's central location in America's great midwest has made this city the hub of the nation's transportation networks. Chicagoans are used to doing things in a big way. . . .they have the world's largest hotel, the Merchandise Mart is the world's largest commercial building, and Chicago yearly attracts more conventions that any other city in the country.
Western Union's facilities in Chicago, which is headquarters for the Lake Division, are geared to handle the city's great industrial and financial position through telegraph offices strategically located throughout the metropolis.
Cincinnati, Ohio - 41-53 E. 4th Street.
Caption for photo at right: Western Union's main office is located in the ground
floor of the Dixie Terminal building. There are 12 branch offices and two Class 3
offices in Cincinnati. Located in the South Annex of this building is the plant and
engineering headquarters, accounting center and reperforator center. This reperforator
office is second in size only to Philadelphia and serves Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and
Tennessee.
From Telegraph News No. 46, December, 1956.
Cincinnati is one of the country's most famous river towns. While the Ohio River can no longer claim to be the most important factor in the city's growth, it still accounts for a good share of the city's prosperity. Automobile companies and assembly plants in Cincinnati still find it economical to utilize the Ohio River for transporting new cars to cities downstream.
The Ohio River, one of the world's busiest inland waterways, has a series of locks and dams which makes it navigable from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois where it joins the Mississippi. The Ohio River valley has often been compared to Europe's Rhine River. Majestic hills rise up from its shores. Cincinnati's steep hills cause immediate comment by visitors and in former years it was a great thrill to be a passenger on a streetcar that was carried several hundred feet up the side of the hill on what was known as an "incline,"
Easterners refer to Cincinnati as a midwestern city but this isn't quite true because the narrow streets and houses built one right alongside the other present an appearance not unfamiliar to the eastern cities.
The prototype of New York's Brooklyn Bridge is the suspension bridge connecting Cincinnati with Covington, Kentucky. Cincinnati's location makes it the gateway to the south from the Great Lakes area. In fact there are many things about Cincinnati that are reminiscent of the South.
Cincinnati is not a brash youngster as cities go. It is proud to point out that it was the first city to own and operate a municipal university. Xavier University is the oldest Catholic University in Ohio and the Hebrew Union College is the oldest rabbinical school in America. Cincinnati's zoo pioneered in outdoor summer opera.
While Cincinnati has a proud past it is also geared to the future. Western Union's nearly 500 employees in the city furnish modern telegraph service to the Cincinnati area which ranks 14th among metropolitan areas in the value of its manufacturers. In the past decade 300 new manufacturers located in Cincinnati. The nearly one million people in the Cincinnati metropolitan area produce a variety of products such as machine tools, playing cards, soap and jet engines. One of the country's first post war hotels, the Terrace Plaza in Cincinnati is unique in design because the lobby is on the eighth floor. The first seven floors of the building are devoted to stores and merchandising while the top floors which are quieter and brighter contain the hotel rooms.
Cleveland, Ohio - 2040 E 9th Street.
Caption for photo at right: Nerve center for Western Union's Cleveland operations is located on the
fourth and fifth floors of this building. The main public office is located on the ground
floor. Cleveland's volume of telegraph traffic is outpaced by only New York, Chicago and
Washington among the manual offices. Approximately 500 Western Union employees serve the
Cleveland area which includes eight branch offices.
From Telegraph News No. 51, June 1957.
"The Best Location in the Nation" is the way the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company has been publicizing Ohio's largest city. When one considers that nowhere in the world is there a greater concentration of heavy industry than in the Detroit-Cleveland-Pittsburgh area, it's not too difficult, in view of Cleveland's central location, to understand the "best location" claim.
Cleveland is a great steel producing center but it is not a one industry town. At one time Cleveland was home to more automobile companies than Detroit. Old timers will recall the Winton and Chandler cars. Today automobiles are no longer assembled in Cleveland but two of the city's largest employers are now General Motors and Ford who have located large parts plants here. Machine tools, paints, electrical appliances, and clothing are some of the major products among Cleveland's diversified industries. Cleveland which is already the hub of much of the Great Lakes shipping is looking forward to further gains with the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway project.
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County's million and a half residents are a cosmopolitan group. The early settlers were fron New England. In colonial times northern Ohio was known as the Western Reserve and was a part of Connecticut. The middle 1800's saw the influx of many Germans and Irish who laid the groundwork for the city's industrial growth. More recently huge numbers of Slavic and Italian peoples settled in Cleveland. Many of the recent refugees from Communist Hungary found homes in Cleveland which has a large Hungarian colony.
Dallas, Texas - 2028 Main Street.
This structure was built in 1913 for the Masonic Blue Lodge. The Lodge occupied the
building until 1919. Western Union occupied the building from 1919-1991. Designed by
Lang and Witchell Architects, this building exhibits Egyptian details relating to the original
Masonic Lodge. This is the only commercial building in Dallas with Egyptian design elements.
Photo caption reads: The Western Union Building in Dallas is the headquarters for the Gulf Division which comprises the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. There are approximately 700 Western Union employees in Dallas which is also a reperforator center. Fifteen branch offices serve the city. Desk-Fax patrons total 1100 with an additional 215 customers being served by teleprinter tielines. Private wire services number 230.
From Telegraph News No. 57, January 1958.
You've got to see these booming southwestern cities to believe it. Easterners have grown accustomed to all the "big" talk emanating from Texas but are still inclined to dismiss it as brash talk. However, to those who visit Dallas it's a revelation to find out that all the shouting is for real. This is a big, busy place that has pushed past the half million mark in population and shows no sign of slowing down.
Dallas is not a factory town. Instead it is a regional headquarters city. There is industry here, but no large dominant type. Testifying to its claim of being the financial capital of the southwest is the fact that it is the home of a Federal Reserve Bank. The Wall Street Journal publishes one of its regional editions in Dallas. Of some 800 insurance companies in the city, 195 have their home offices here.
New buildings are sprouting up all over the place. While other towns may point with pride to a single new hotel or office building, down in Dallas they show you two new hotels and many new office buildings. Dallas' downtown district, unlike many older towns, hadn't become stagnant nor was it in need of re-habilitation. With the exception of the war years, it has been continually growing and expanding.
Much has been written about the feud between Dallas and neighboring Fort Worth. While both towns have pretty much outgrown such antics, elements of the rivalry still remain. An outstanding example is the newly opened ultra-modern air terminal at Dallas' Love Field. Midway between Dallas and Fort Worth, which are only 33 miles apart, is another huge new air terminal called Amon Carter Field. It was built with the idea of serving both cities. Unfortunately the two cities never could agree so Dallas decided to rebuild Love Field and left the Amon Carter Field exclusively to Fort Worth. There are those who say that Dallas walked out when it was discovered that the front of the Amon Carter terminal was designed to face toward Fort Worth instead of Dallas. In any case you'll have to search far in order to find better air terminal facilities than these two cities offer. Both cities point with pride to the newly completed super-highway that connects Dallas and Fort Worth. (The highway is now part of I-30.)
Webmaster note: Amon Carter Field was built and in operation just south of the present day DFW International Airport. The airfield except for a small portion of a runway, has been completed plowed under a mere 20 years after it opened. Read about the field by clicking on this link: www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_FtWorth_NE.htm
Detroit, Michigan - 536 Shelby Street.
Caption for photo at right: Detroit's Western Union building houses the reperforator center which
serves Michigan and Indiana. Also located here is the Lake division's second district
headquarters, plant and engineering area headquarters, and accounting center.
From Telegraph News No. 41, June 1956.
In Detroit you can watch your favorite car being built on the assembly line, take a ten minute walk across the bridge or a 15¢ bus ride through the tunnel to Canada, visit world famous museums and playgrounds.
The Ambassador bridge spans the Detroit River and connects Detroit with neighboring Canada. A tunnel likewise connects Detroit with its sister city across the river, Windsor, Ontario. It's not uncommon to find workers in the motor city who live in one country and work in another. A number of Western Union employees live in Canada and commute to Detroit daily.
The river front from which Detroit takes its name (it means "the straits" in French) is the world's busiest waterway. During the Great lakes' shipping season, the long flat-decked lakes freighters pass at the rate of five an hour, upbound with coal, downbound with iron ore, limestone and grain.
Detroit, the nation's fifth city, means automobiles and it is today a booming metropolis of two million people, thanks primarily to the auto age. However, not all Detroit's industry is automotive. Such famous names as Burroughs business machines and Parke-Davis pharmaceuticals also call Detroit their home.
The hundreds of thousands who work in Detroit's factories have come from many foreign countries and the small towns and rural areas of this country. Detroit is a cosmopolitan city. One of its largest suburbs, Hamtramck, is noted for its predominately Polish population.
In order to serve Detroit, Western Union employs approximately 850 people in the main office and 22 branch offices.
El Paso, Texas - 401 N. Oregon
From Telegraph News No. 83, June-July, 1960.
When the sign "El Paso City limits" greets the weary driver, he'd better not slow up to look for motels. The tremendous area of the city, some 21 miles across, has placed El Paso's lines a good distance beyond the last suburb. But in typical Texas style, the city plans to grow and fill the area -- some day!
After traversing the semi-arid terrain that surrounds El Paso the visitor is impressed with the city, the hills rising in the background, and the greenery strongly contrasting with the dull brown appearance of the hinterlands.
A city square, with towering trees and a solitary alligator, marks the heart of the business area. Adjacent to this park, within an alligator's eye-view for that matter is the Western Union office where some 50 employees provide service to the city and nearby military reservations.
These military bases, White Sands Missile Range, Fort Bliss, and Biggs Air Force Base, all have Western Union agencies. In addition, Biggs is one of the drops on the Air Force weather-fax network. As is the case with most military bases, money orders are a large segment of business.
Another important source of money order business is the trucking industry. As a stopping-off place for cross-country drivers, El Paso is frequently used as a money drop.
In a time when morse is rapidly disappearing from the scene, El Paso has the distinction of
working some 60 railroad offices. All W.U. stations on the 850 mile circuit from
El Paso to Needles, California are relayed through El Paso. In addition, stations
350 miles east in Texas and 400 miles into New Mexico are handled.
Caption for photo at right: A. L. Leavitt, senior Morse operator, estimates that these are some of the longest Morse circuits currently being used.
The traffic handled at El Paso represents a wide variety of industries. Petroleum producers are an important factor, but such diverse operations as meat packing and produce are all sources of revenue. A fair amount of cable traffic is filed by cotton men.
The Rio Grande, usually just a trickle due to the diversion of water for irrigation, flows between El Paso and its Mexican neighbor, Cuidad Juarez. A bustling city whose population together with that of El Paso results in a metropolitan area of nearly a half million people, Juarez is in the Mexican state of Chihuaha. Local traffic is not sent between the two cities, but by way of San Antonio, a gateway city. Nevertheless, W.U. men like John Jager are in frequent contact with the Mexican telegraph people. A printer tieline in the Juarez office of Aeronaves de Mexico and a CAB printer at the Juarez airport are serviced by section maintainer Jager. His appearance at the Mexican telegraph office evokes a warm reception (in Spanish) from the employees.
El Paso's residents are so enamoured of the climate that they readily admit an occasional dust storm mars their existance. This is a minor inconvenience, and the sunny days and cool nights more than compensate for any dust. Like the Spaniards who called the area El Paso del Norte -- The Pass of the north -- back in 1659, the present citizens envision continued growth. Based on the four "C's," cotton, copper, cattle and climate, El Paso looks confidently to the future.
Hartford, Connecticut - 219 Pearl Street.
Photo at right: Western Union's traffic department was located in this building at
6 Central Row.
There was another office at 466 Asylum Street.
From Telegraph News No. 76, November, 1959.
Meeting the varied communications needs of Hartford, Connecticut's many companies is a challenging job for Western Union. The Far-reaching insurance business alone requires the speed and accuracy that only record communications can give. The extent to which industry depends on Western Union service is attested to by the 50 plants and offices utilizing Private Wire systems or printer tie-lines. There are approximately 70 drops in and around Hartford.
Serving this city are 60 Western Union employees, under the direction of Arthur Van Wie, district manager. Van Wie has spent 26 years in the telegraph business, the last nine of them wearing the many hats that befall the District Manager in a state capital like Hartford. During Connecticut's biennial legislative sessions, Van Wie serves as Western Union's legislative representative. A man of many interests Van Wie is a member of several city clubs and an ardent outdoorsman.
Employees at Hartford pride themselves on their long service records. An example of this is the telephone bureau where supervisor Kathleen Flanagan, Mary Lennan, Ann Carpenter and Grace Campbell have a total of 151 years of service. This experience contributes to the fine service area customers enjoy.
Turning back to the equipment, there are 97 Desk-Fax units in use. In addition to the Fax and printer tielines several companies have DCTL to the reperforator center in Boston. The principle Hartford banks are part of Western Union's Bank Wire System.
Hartford traffic includes a vast amount of figures from the aircraft industry. Insurance companies rely on telegrams for policy releases and sales reports. The telegram is often used too, in sales promotion campaigns for many Hartford companies. All these services add up to a lot of business, and at the same time a great deal of responsibility for Western Union.
Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and center of the state's leading metropolitan area. It is located halfway between New York and Boston on the Connecticut River. Long famed as the "Insurance City," Hartford's many financial institutions give it a striking skyline.
European settlement began in early 1633 with a Dutch trading post. English settlers arrived in 1635 with a group from Cambridge, MA. Their leaders, Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone, arrived in 1636. They named the settlement for Stone's birthplace of Hertford, England. In 1639 they wrote a charter for government known as the Fundamental Orders, thought to be the first written constitution to create a government by the consent of the governed. Hartford became the capital of the Connecticut colony in 1662.
In 1835 the Hartford Fire Insurance Company was one of the few companies able to pay claims after a fire in New York City, assuring the city's reputation for reliable insurance companies. Manufacturing also contributed to the city's growth. Population peaked at 177,397 in 1950.
Hartford was home to authors Mark Twain and Harriett Beecher Stowe. The Wadsworth Atheneum, established in 1842, is one of the oldest public art museums in the United States.
Massive redevelopment of the downtown area began in the late 1950's with Constitution Plaza along the riverfront. Numerous skyscrapers followed until the economy faltered in the late 1980's. Several ambitious projects from the 1980's boom were never realized. As of 2004, new construction is centered on the $1 billion Adriaen's Landing project, including the Connecticut Convention Center and the Marriott Hotel.
Houston, Texas - 620 Capitol Street.
Caption for photo at right: Western Union's main office in Houston is located in this
building which also houses the accounting center and superintendent's office. Telegraph
employees in Houston number nearly 300 in all departments. Over 1000 telegraph tie
lines serve the expanding Houston area.
From Telegraph News No. 49, March, 1957.
Lloyds of London predict that Houston will be the largest city in the world within the next 100 years. Ok you Easterners, you can chuckle up your sleeves at this Texas type prediction, but since very few of us are likely to be around when this statement is proved or disproved you'll have to concede that there is a lot of building and expansion going on in the Lone Star state. Just as steel made Pittsburgh great and automobiles carried Detroit's fame throughout the world, Houston's prosperity is founded on oil.
Houston is a new city that has expanded for miles in all directions. Unlike the older metropolitan areas of the country which are hemmed in by suburban towns on all sides, Houston still has plenty of space in which to grow. Last year's population estimates are considered obsolete by the Houston Chamber of Commerce which claims that Houston is now the nation's twelfth most populous city.
Although located nearly 60 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston's ship canal brings shipping to the city's door and had made it one of the nation's largest ports. Also of major importance to this area is the growth of the chemical industry.
Conventions bring a lot of people into Houston, and then there are a lot of folks who just come down here to see for themselves what all the shouting is about. The new department stores, office buildings and hotels speak for themselves. But all the emphasis isn't on business. Houston's oil millions are also being used to develop the city as an educational center. Located here are Rice Institute, University of St. Thomas, University of Houston, Texas Southern and Baylor College of Medicine. In the study of medicine and research the Texas Medical Center's growth has been spectacular during the past seven years. The buildings alone will cost of $100,000,000 when completed on 164 acres.
Webmaster note: The northeast corner of the 56 story Bank of America Center structure houses a building within a building. On the site is the main Western Union building and when relocation of the telegraph cables proved infeasible new structure was built over the site and the existing structure was incorporated into the new building intact.
Kansas City, Missouri - 100 E. 7th Street.
Caption for photo at right: Kansas City's Western Union building houses the
reperforator center which serves the five state area of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma,
Wyoming, and Colorado. Also located here is the Gulf division's third district
headquarters, and plant and engineering area headquarters. Seventeen branch
offices serve the city. Western Union employees in Kansas city total approximately
550.
From Telegraph News No. 43, September, 1956.
If you were to choose a major city located farthest away from the four borders of the United States your choice would be Kansas City. Although Kansas City is Missouri's second city, her destiny seems to be more with the plains states to her west. The metropolitan area which comprises neighboring Kansas City, Kansas, has approximately 900,000 persons.
Kansas City is fortunate in that no one industry dominates. Prominent in the city's growth and importance are its stockyards, railroads, agricultural concerns, motor car assembly plants and wholesaling houses. Kansas City is a great regional retail and financial center. Kansas City doesn't dwell upon its past because it is a new and young city which adds just enough informality and brashness to make it an interesting place. Its people work hard and play hard and best of all enjoy a way of life that is typically American.
Kansas City's number one citizen is former president Harry S. Truman whose home town of Independence is a suburb of Kansas City. If you like your climate varied Kansas City can offer you just that. Its location in the center of the open plains makes summer readings of 100 degrees not uncommon while in the winter the winds whistle down across the same plains from Canada plunging the mercury well below zero.
Webmaster note: Ben Seagraves of KSC advises the reperf office at 7th and Walnut was shut down in 1972. The W&R, HotLine, Telex, Broadband stayed until 1986 when it was moved to 801 Charlotte Street. The Charlotte Street location was shut down on January 18, 1991. The building at 7th and Walnut is still intact and now contains a restaurant and office space.
From Western Union News Vol. 12 No. 7, August-September, 1979.
Area headquarters moved into its new offices in the Western Union Building during a weekend in September.
Construction of the two-story brick buildig progressed according to schedule and the headquarters staff completed the move without a hitch. The building is owned by the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and leased to Western Union Realty Corporation.
The Western Union Building, one of several new structures planned for downtown Kansas City, is regarded as a stabilizing unit in the downtown area. At a luncheon on September 18, the Kansas City Corporation for Industrial Development recognized Western Union and 24 other Kansas City companies for contributing to employment and the financial growth of the city. Mayor Richard Berkley presented Area Vice President Michael McGovern with a plaque citing the Company for its commitment in Kansas City.
The new headquarters building is on the block between 8th and 9th Streets, between Charlotte and Interstate 70 at the northeast edge of the downtown freeway loop. The 56,000 square foot structure accommodates the Area Vice President's office and staff and also contains communications equipment for sending, receiving and switching messages. A Public Office is located in the building.
Memphis, Tennessee - 32 S. 2nd Street.
From Telegraph News No. 54, October, 1957.
Memphis, Tennessee's largest city, is located astride both east-west and north-south traffic routes. It has become the distributing center for a large area embracing several states. The Mississippi River still plays an important part in the city's economy, However, a new river-rail-truck terminal provides modern facilities for all three of these transportation facilities.
Modern Memphis is a comparatively new city. This is a bit of a paradox because as an aftermath of the Civil War and a great flu epidemic the city in 1879 was bankrupt and depopulated which resulted in the loss of its charter. But by the turn of the century Memphis, spurred by its geographical location, had again risen to importance. Today the metropolitan area comprises a half million population in the tri-state area of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Cotton has always been important to Memphis. Western Union maintains a branch office
in the Memphis Cotton Exchange which handles one third of the entire United States cotton
sales. One of the downtown hotels bears the name "King Cotton Hotel," and each year
during May the city holds the Cotton Carnival. However, cotton has to take its place
among other industries such as chemicals, wood products, and automotives.
Western Union recently completed refurbishing its main office in Memphis. This included the addition of air conditioning, modern lighting, and acoustical ceiling. The traffic department office is pictured at right.
Miami, Florida - 26 NW 3rd Street.
From Telegraph News No. 48, February, 1957.
February is the month when all the sundrenched resources of the Miami area are operating at full capacity to accommodate refugees from the snows and sub-zero temperatures of the northern states. So great is the influx of visitors and permanent settlers that the Greater Miami area in a little more than thirty years has grown from 50,000 to over 500,000 population.
The principal industry in this area is of course the vacation business, which is concentrated primarily on Miami Beach. However, the city of Miami has blossomed forth into one of America's important commercial centers. Miami has become an important link in our commerce and trade with South America. Miami's international airport is one of the nation's busiest for foreign passenger and commercial traffic. The mild climate makes it practical for the airlines serving Miami to have large maintenance centers located here.
A fast-growing area such as Miami has required great expansion of telegraph services. In addition to the main office and eleven branch offices there are also approximately 700 agencies in the Greater Miami area.
Western Union employs nearly 300 people in this area. In order to keep up with the growing needs of the area, the company will have approxiately 1000 Desk-Fax units in operation by the end of this year (1957).
Webmaster note: George Abrams of Miami advises the office at 26 NW 3rd Street was moved to 90 SW 8th Street in 1972/73. The first floor was commercial and second floor was "BI", W&R, telex, etc. Lloyd Carey, operations manager and George were the last ones out in 1991 when the entire operation was scrapped and the office closed.
From Western Union News Vol. 12 No. 4, April, 1979.
The electronic delivery of Mailgram messages via satellite to an earth station small enough to be mounted on a rooftop was previewed in Miami April 18, (1979).
"This could well be our Electronic Mail system of the future," said Walter E. Girardin, Telegraph Company President. "Here in Miami, a prototype system is located at Western Union's downtown office, but it could be on the roof of a post office or even the office of a high-volume user."
Demonstration Mailgram messages describing the event were sent via Western Union's earth station near Atlanta to a Westar satellite, 22,300 miles above the Equator and back down to a 16-foot earch station antenna in Miami -- all at the speed of light.
Once in Miami, signals received by the antenna, located at Western Union's First Avenue and S.W. Eighth Street facility, were conveyed via landline to the Omni International Hotel where they were printed out as demonstration Mailgram messages.
The earth station used in the demonstration will be connected to Miami's main post office on a permanent basis this summer to handle regular Mailgram traffic to the Miami area. Because the small antenna is capable of sending as well as receiving, additional Electronic Mail services, such as Telex and TWX teletypewriter services, are expected to be added in the months ahead.
"We are fast approaching the time when the cost of transporting paper by plane, truck or train will be prohibitive because of rising costs," Mr. Girardin said. "This system is one of the alternatives we are studying to provide better, more economical services in the future."
As part of the initial program, similar small earth stations are planned for other Southern cities later this year and will be equipped with Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems.
TDMA systems are digital transmission techniques which make more efficient use of the satellite's bandwidth by assigning several earth stations to the same frequency, which is then shared among them by allocation of time slots.
Western Union's national microwave transmission network does not extend southeastward from Atlanta. Use of the satellite will reduce the need for expensive leased landlines, thus lowering the cost of reaching Miami.
The press conference was attended by television stataions affiliated with PBS, NBC, ABC and CBS plus representatives of the Miami and Fort Lauderdale newspapers, several radio stations and the Associated Press, which relayed the story nationwide.
here to view a photo
of the actual Mailgram message.
New Orleans, Louisiana - 332 Carondelet Street.
From Telegraph News No. 4, February, 1953.
New Orleans, one of America's most famous cities, is likewise one of the most important centers in Western Union's high speed modern telegraph network.
The automatic reperforator switching center at New Orleans serves 150 tributary offices in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. The center was placed in operation in 1949 and was the fourteenth to be completed in our nationwide network of 15 high speed communications centers. Western Union employs approximately 500 people in the New Orleans area.
New Orleans no longer is known exclusively for its quaint tourist attractions and old world atmosphere. It is a bustling Industrial metropolis of over a half million population. The city has grown up industrially, but still retains its charm, way of life, and famous restaurants.
Founded in 1718 by the French, New Orleans also was under Spanish rule before the Americans took over in 1803. In 1815 the British were defeated with the aid of the pirate Jean Lafitte and his men. These historical events and the ante-bellum days of the old South have been molded together to give New Orleans a definite character among America's famous cities.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 230 South 11th Street.
Caption for photo at right: Philadelphia's Western Union building houses the
largest telegraph reperforator center in the world. Also located here is the
third district headquarters, plant and engineering area headquarters, accounting
center, and central office. There are approximately one thousand Western
Union employees in Philadelphia in all departments and 31 branch offices.
From Telegraph News No. 38, March 1956.
Philadelphia, the nation's oldest metropolis, a city of homes, historical wealth, industrial power and friendly people, has undergone gargantuan face-lifting surgery,
A three-billion dollar industrial construction program carried on since World War II in the greater Philadelphia area, the heart of Delaware Valley, U. S. A., has made it one of the mighty industrial areas of the world.
Once known as "staid old Philly" becasue of its inherited great traditions and its easy-going citizens, the city today is a the hub of activity, a metropolitan area where more than three million people live and work, where millions of visitors go annually to attend conventions.
The Rotary International convention in June will draw many Western Union people to Philadelphia. Superintendent Bruce R. Allen, as a past president of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia and secretary of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, extends a warm welcome to all of Uncle Wes' nieces and nephews to come to Philadelphia . . . and pay us a visit.
The new Penn Center development in the heart of downtown Philadelphia is rising on land formerly occupied by Broad Street Station and its adjoining railroad tracks. A new hotel, office builings, garages, and parks comprise this development which when finished will rival New York's Rockefeller Center.
Webmaster note: The Western Union building, erected in 1922 has been converted to a high rise condominium. Seven floors of modern design have been added above the original four-story building. The "new" building has its own web site www.westernunionbuilding.com
Salt Lake City, Utah - 51 South State Street.
From Telegraph News No. 68, January 1959.
The first-time visitor to Salt Lake City is usually over-awed by the spectacle of the towering mountains that come right down to the city's edge. However the mountains don't crowd the city in which the main streets are noted for their 132 foot width. Today's motorists can thank Brigham Young for his farsightedness in planning such a spacious city.
Salt Lake City has gained world renown as the home of the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The Mormon pioneers under their leader Brigham Young decided to settle the land in the great salt lake valley, preferring land no other people would want. Today Salt Lake City, with a metropolitan population of 375,000 people, stands as a tribute to the sacrifice and indefatigable spirit of those early settlers. What was once desert and sagebrush has been transformed into one of the most beautiful and productive valleys in the world.
One hardly thinks of Salt Lake City as a manufacturing town. However, just a few miles away sprawls the giant United States Steel Company's Columbia-Geneva Steel plant. The Kennecott Copper Corporation's huge mining, milling and refining operations employ about 5600 people. To better serve this growing city and industrial area Western Union recently moved into new, modern facilities.
Despite the preponderance of persons belonging to the Mormon religion, Salt Lake is a
democratic city in which Protestant, Catholic and Jewish groups are also well represented.
Nevertheless the influence of the Mormons is very strong, even to the city's
commercial affairs. The largest department store, known as ZCMI (which stands for
Zion Cooperative Mercantile Institution), Salt Lake's largest hotel and one of its
newspapers, the Desert News, are all indirectly controlled by the Mormon church
through stock ownership in each of the corporations.
Caption of photo at right: September 1983 -- River View -- While streets in Salt Lake City were lined with sandbags to carry overflow from flooding rivers, Western Union's office remained open to serve its customers. Not one employee missed work during the emergency.
Webmaster note: In an effort to discover the address of the Western Union facilities, we corresponded with George Vander Meyden of Murray, Utah. George furnished the address and went on to say . . . I was a service technician working out of a remote area Plant Service Center at the time. When the company folded operations in 1989, I was the last employee to be working out of the 51 South State address. The public telegraph office portion had been closed and all that remained was the wire chief operations which I inherited being the last maintenance personnel in the state of Utah. After I was furloughed in March of 1989 the company brought "Robbie" Robinson down from Idaho where he had worked for many years as a service technician, to do the dismantling and closing of the office for the last time. Robinson did that at several locations when the company folded all operations.
P.S. I sure miss the fellowship shared with the many people I was Honored to work with during my 33 years of service with Western Union.
Left photo: Western Union Service Pin Presentations, approx 1987. L to R: James Komro, Mgr.
Tech Svc., Jerry Draper, George Vander Meyden, Boyd Rigby, Service Techs, Salt Lake City, Ron
Zissy, Area Mgr. Tech Svcs, Oakland, CA.
-- -- --
Right photo: James Komro, Mgr. Tech Svc., Melvin Hansen, George Vander
Meyden, Rodney Lund, Jerry Draper,
Boyd Rigby, Richard Watkins, Service Techs, Ron Zissy, Area Mgr Tech Svcs., Oakland, CA.
San Francisco, California - 49 Geary Street.
Oakland, California - 125 12th Street.
Photo at left is the Oakland building which housed Western Union's reperforator center
serving California (except Los Angeles) and Nevada. Photo at right is the San
Francisco 49 Geary Street office building.
From Telegraph News No. 45, November, 1956.
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay area has often been described as a "must" on any tour of the United States. San Francisco, the city by the golden gate, has been immortalized in song and fiction, and who hasn't heard about its famous fire and fogs. Some cities are famed for their size, and others for their industrial products. But San Francisco has a distinct cosmopolitan air all its own. It's not the largest city in the state and the natives are not given to boasting in the superlatives. After all that's not necessary because San Francisco's famous bridges, restaurants, Chinatown and its port are legendary.
San Francisco is the financial center of the West Coast and the gateway to the Orient. It is only natural that Western Union's Pacific Division headquarters should be located here. There are more than 600 Western Union employees in San Francisco which has an accounting center, a district headquarters and 24 branch offices. A total of 850 Desk-Fax machines and 400 teleprinters provide direct wire connections between San Francisco customers and Western Union. During last summer's Republican convention press centers were established at the Cow Palace and he Fairmont Hotel where 30 circuits from each location and 53 leased or premium circuits carried more than seven million words. As a gateway city San Francisco is second only to New York City in originating overseas traffic.
Climate-wise the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area can be best described as a sort of perpetual springtime. Extreme temperature variations are almost unheard of.
Oakland, Calfornia's third city, is the point of convergence of highway and rail routes from the East and North. Oakland is also the center of fast growing Alameda county which contains many industrial cities. Nearby Berkeley is the home of the University of California.
Out of the Oakland area come ships, baby food, Chevrolets, disinfectants, adding machines, canned goods, chemicals and airplane parts. Western Union's reperforator center serving California (except Los Angeles) and Nevada is located in Oakland as are the headquarters for the vast Henry J. Kaiser industrial empire. Plans are now underway for the construction of a new $40,000,000 Kaiser Center which will also house a message center of their nationwide Western Union private wire system.
Webmaster note: The 49 Geary Street building in San Francisco is now a site for many art gallery stores. The 125 12th Street building in Oakland is now the main office of the Alameda County Law Library.
Syracuse, New York - 351 S. Warren Street.
From Telegraph News No. 58, February, 1958.
Syracuse's location in central New York state adjacent to the New York State Thruway makes it readily accessible to east-west traffic. The Penn-Can Expressway, (now I-81) when completed, will extend from Washington to Canada and will pass through Syracuse.
A city of diversified industries, Syracuse is still referred to as the Salt City. Salt Springs along the border of Onondaga Lake made Syracuse the first place in the United States where salt for commercial purposes was obtained by the solar process rather than from sea water. On this same lake today the annual regatta of the intercollegiate rowing associations is held and a substantial press file is handled by Western Union.
Syracuse is a city of homes, trees, and wide streets. For recreation it's hard to beat the nearby Adirondack Mountains or New York's famous Finger Lakes. A quarter of a million people reside in Syracuse which is the home of Syracuse University and the annual New York State Agricultural and Industrial Exposition which is New York's state fair.
For those who enjoy singling out a typical American city, Syracuse can pretty well fill the bill. In fact it is known as a "test city." Many new products are tried out initially in the Syracuse market to test consumer acceptance before being nationally distributed.
Syracuse is an important link in the nation's telegraph network because located here is the
reperforator center which serves all of New York state with the exception of the New York
City metropolitan area. Just outside Syracuse, in Camillus, is located the data
processing center of the first nationwide private wire telegraph system designed for
automatic transmission of control data. This system was especially designed by
Western Union for Sylvania Electric and was formally opened in June 1956. Originally
there were 51 cities on the network. Today this number has been incresed to 88.
Webmaster note: The building at 351 S. Warren St. pictured at right exists today as multi-use office space. The Western Union name is at the roof line of the building. It is difficult to discern on this greatly reduced photo.
Wichita, Kansas - 158 N. Topeka Avenue.
Caption for photo at right: Western Union's Wichita offices are located here.
Wichita is one of two major switching centers on the Boeing Aircaft Western
Union private wire system. This Plan 111 communications system is nation-wide
extending from Seattle to New York.