The Red River and Texas Telegraph Company opened Texas’ first telegraph office in Marshall on February 14, 1854. Since the first demonstration of the telegraph in 1844, with communication between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, inventor Samuel Morse (1791-1872) had been offering revenue from his invention to various outlets. At the time, the impoverished Texas Embassy in Washington D.C. was not interested in the project. It would be another ten years before the existing Shreveport Telegraph Line would extend into Texas. By 1852, New Orleans-based financial backers founded the Red River and Texas Telegraph Company to install the first commercial telegraph lines into the state. A telegraph office was opened in Marshall, a distance of 49 miles from Shreveport. Lines were quickly extended to Henderson, Rusk, Crockett, Montgomery, Houston and Galveston. The telegraph office was housed in Travis George Twyman’s store on the courthouse square. The telegraph became the primary technology for industries like railroad and newspapers. During the Civil War, the telegraph became an important line of communication for both the Union and the Confederacy. Union soldiers attempted to reach Shreveport to cut off telegraph communication to Texas but were unsuccessful. From October 1, 1879 to July 1, 1880, more than a quarter million messages flowed through Western Union wires across the state. By 1938, Western Union provided service to 228 of the state’s 254 counties, maintaining 12,400 miles of poles and 80,700 miles of wire. In 1972, Western Union closed the Marshall office which had been in operation since 1854. Later turned into a city park, the space around the old Marshall office recalls the advance of technology and communication in the state. (2022)