# From 1956—Western Union Text Communications Network

**URL:** <https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/from-1956-western-union-text-communications-network/2551>\
**Category:** Continuity\
**Tags:** western-union, telegram, telex, communications\
**Created:** [3 January 2023 14:04 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/from-1956-western-union-text-communications-network/2551 "2023-01-03T14:04:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/user_avatar/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/johnwalker/32/17415_2.png) [@johnwalker](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/u/johnwalker)\
**Post date:** [3 January 2023 14:04 UTC](https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/from-1956-western-union-text-communications-network/2551/1 "2023-01-03T14:04:05Z")

</div>

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1IAZLoPbo)

In the early 1970s, I visited a Western Union switching hub near St Louis, Missouri in a tour arranged for attendees at a Univac user conference. By then, all traffic was switched by computers, with outbound messages funneled down into a single coaxial cable a little bigger around than my thumb. There wasn’t any paper tape to be seen anywhere.