America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same. All you need for sending money via Western Union is to go to the nearest branch of Western Union, fill out the transfer printed form, show your passport and then send money.