early 1920's american industrial wall-mount western union telegraph call box fabricated by the t.a. edison company. the flush mount call box contains a deep cobalt blue porcelain enameled oval-shaped steel cover box with bright white lettering and border. the base plate is comprised of white glazed ceramic. the black rotary switch is original and intact. the call box was designed to "pulse out" a predetermined code which would have been sent to the local telegraph office. upon receiving the coded signal, the telegraph office would know which location desired service and would dispatch a messenger to that location. western union was founded in rochester, new york, in 1851 as the new york and mississippi valley printing telegraph company. after a series of acquisitions of competing companies by hiram sibley and don alonzo watson the company changed its name to western union telegraph company in 1856 at the insistence of ezra cornell, one of the founders of cornell university, to signify the joining of telegraph lines from coast to coast.western union completed the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861. in 1865 it formed the russian american telegraph in an attempt to link america to europe, via alaska, into siberia, to moscow.the telegraph was dominated by western union, an industrialized monopoly. they were the first communications empire and the beginning of what was to come for the future of communications as it is known today.it introduced the first stock ticker in 1866, and a standardized time service in 1870. the next year, 1871, the company introduced its money transfer service, based on its extensive telegraph network. in 1879, western union left the telephone business, having lost a patent lawsuit with bell. as the telephone replaced the telegraph, money transfer would become its primary business.when the dow jones transportation average stock market index for the nyse was created in 1884, western union was one of the original eleven companies tracked. the western union call box was salvaged from the chicago athletic club association building. measures approximately 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 6 inches.