Jackie Bishop, age 13, of Chattanooga, Tenn., for her question:

WHEN DID WESTERN UNION START?

Western Union Telegraph Company provides the public telegraph system of the United States. In 1851, a group of Rochester, N.Y., men organized the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. In 1856, it changed its name to Western Union.

In 1861, Western Union built the first transcontinental telegraph line. The company eventually built a national system by uniting 540 telegraph companies. The last, Postal Telegraph, Inc., merged with Western Union in 1943.

In the 1950s, Western Union set up a high speed system for sending telegrams.

The company added 50 million miles of circuits to its facilities through a nationwide microwave beam network in the early 1960s. It expanded its private wire service to industry and government in 1962. enabling customers to send messages, weather maps and other visual data.

Western Union completed a computer system serving the United States Department of Defense in 1963. In 1964 a 7,500 mile coast to coast microwave system was opened that transmits teletype, facsimile and computer tape messages.