Western Union Stops Sending Telegrams

An era officially ended last week when Western Union stopped sending telegrams. On its website, which supports its primary business of money transfers, Western Union displays this paragraph on its telegram page:

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

A great and storied technology that began its decline with the advent of the telephone finally met its end in the age of e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, faxing and overnight shipping. Now, this bit of Americana will live on only in memory and in classic movies.

Source: LiveScience.com