CA-K270Economy & trade

Canada’s first electric telegraph, 1846

The Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaque for Canada’s First Electric Telegraph in Toronto, photographed in 2018. Canada's First Electric Telegraph plaque · Spudgun67 · Photo source · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.

Factual accuracy review: No recorded challenge

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The telegraph was inaugurated in Canada on 19 December 1846, when the Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company’s line carried the first message, from the mayor of Toronto to the mayor of Hamilton. At first an expensive novelty, the telegraph was soon adopted by the press and business.

Scope & context

The first telegraph line, not the later transcontinental or transatlantic networks.

Sources behind this record

First Electric Telegraph National Historic Event ↗

Parks Canada

Historical importance; plaque text