The First Telegraph Line (1844)

In 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse was constructing the first magnetic telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore, following the railroad tracks from Washington through Bladensburg to Baltimore. Congress had appropriated $30,000 in 1843 for the experimental line, and construction began in the spring of the following year. One of the first tests of the unfinished line took place just north of Bladensburg near Riversdale, the estate of Charles B. Calvert. On April 10, 1844, the National Intelligencer reported that the conductors had been built from Washington to a point on the railroad opposite Calvert's residence, six miles away, and that work was advancing at about a mile a day. A trial made as railroad cars passed Calvert's communicated news of their passage to the point where the line began in Washington, and a reply confirming receipt came back in two or three seconds.

Bladensburg, Maryland · United States