July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network.