In 1864, fearing the laying of long underwater lines, Western Union offered to carry out laying of telegraph lines to Europe through the Russian Alaska under the narrow Bering Strait and then to Siberia with branching in the major cities of Europe. In 1933, by the Western Union Company were invented "singing telegrams". In 1991, Western Union has sold some low-profit division of the company AT & T, GM Hughes Electronics, and to some others. In the same year the company changed its name to New Valley Corp. The first offices of company were located in the Reynolds Arcade building in Rochester, New York. The sign above the main entrance to the building - In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network.