Western Union Telegraph Co. - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by De La Rue Banknote Company. The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Denver, Colorado. It was founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York. In 1856, the company changed its name to the Western Union Telegraph Company after merging with several other telegraph companies.

From the 1860s to the 1980s, it dominated the American telegraph industry, pioneering technologies such as telex and developing a variety of telegraph-related services, including wire money transfer, alongside its main business of transmitting and delivering telegram messages. After facing financial difficulties, Western Union shifted its focus away from communications in the 1980s and began to concentrate more on money transfer services. By 2006, it had completely ceased its communications operations. At that time, The New York Times described Western Union as "the world's largest money-transfer business," noting that its dominance in the market was largely due to the number of immigrants sending money back home.

Historically, Western Union is significant for having completed the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861, which facilitated communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. The first messages sent via this telegraph were delivered to then-President Abraham Lincoln.