The Times Building and the 1911 Telegram
The Times Building in New York, completed in 1904, became the new headquarters of The New York Times. The paper gave the square its name when it moved there from Park Row. Later, the building became famous for the electric news “zipper” sign that wrapped around its façade.
The Western Union Telegraph Company, meanwhile, operated its main headquarters at 195 Broadway, farther downtown. However, Western Union maintained telegraph rooms within major newspapers, including The Times. These rooms were fully equipped with Western Union instruments and staffed by operators, all of whom were connected directly into Western Union’s nationwide network.
On August 20, 1911, the Times used its own telegraph room—located on the second floor of the Times Building—to send the famous “Around the World Telegram.” At 7:00 p.m., an operator tapped out the test message: “This message sent around the world.”
The signal raced across the Atlantic to Europe, through Asia, across the Pacific, and back to New York. In only 16 and a half minutes, the telegram returned to the same office—proof that news could now circle the globe almost instantly.
✨ Awe and Wonder: In a modest second-floor room, surrounded by clacking telegraph sounders, a few taps on a key shrank the world. For the first time, humanity had seen the planet tied together by a web of wires.