Cyrus Field: The Man Who Brought Telegraph in the Mainstream

Cyrus Field was an American financier and businessman who was instrumental in the creation of the Atlantic Telegraph Company. In 1858, Field and Atlantic Telegraph were able to lay down the first telegraph cable system across the Atlantic Ocean.

Field was born on October 20, 1819 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. At 15, he went to New York City to work in the largest dry goods emporium in the city at that time as an errand boy. When he was 18, he went back to Stockbridge.

At around 1840, Field went back to New York City again. He ventured into paper manufacturing at a time when the demand for penny press and the need for stocks and bonds were high. He became one of the wealthiest men in the city, which allowed him to retire when he was just 34. With a fortune of $250,000, Field bought his family a home in Gramercy Park.

Field financed Frederic Edwin Church’s expeditions in the 1850s. The expeditions allowed Church to reach Andes in his search for new landscapes that would become the subject of his paintings. Field commissioned some of Church’s famous artworks hoping to lure a few investors to support his ventures in South America.

Soon, Field ventured into telegraphy. Along with Samuel F.B. Morse, Moses Taylor, Abram Stevens Hewitt and Peter Cooper, Field laid down a 400-mile telegraph line that connected Nova Scotia and St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1854. In 1855, they founded the American Telegraph Company. The company began acquiring other telegraph companies and consolidated the system that ran from the Gulf Coast to Maine.

When finances were secured and the backing of the British and American governments acquired, Atlantic Telegraph laid down the first telegraph cable system that used the shallow submarine plateau between Newfoundland and Ireland. The cable system was officially on August 16, 1858 after Queen Victoria sent a message via Morse code to President James Buchanan. However, the jubilation for the new cable system was short-lived because it broke down after three weeks. The system was reconnected in 1866.

That year, Field laid down a better and more durable trans-Atlantic cable line. This provided an almost instant communication line across the Atlantic.

The Canadian Pacific railway named the community of Field, British Columbia in December 1884 to honor Field and his contributions in telegraphy.