First Electric Telegraph National Historic Event
Toronto, Ontario
First Electric Telegraph
(© PC Database)
Address :
93 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1925-05-15
Other Name(s):
-
First Electric Telegraph
(Designation Name)
Importance:
Line from Toronto to Queenston carried first message in 1846
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: 93 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario
19 December 1846 marked the inauguration of the telegraph in Canada. This major development in communications was pioneered by the Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company whose line then being built between Toronto and Queenston carried the first message, from the mayor of Toronto to his Hamilton counterpart. To most Canadians the early telegraph was an expensive novelty but both the press and business soon adapted it to their use. In 1852 the successful but limited Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara enterprise was bought by the larger Montreal Telegraph Company.