Western Union Telegraph Building

The Western Union Telegraph Building was a building at Dey Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by the architect George B. Post, and completed in 1875. The building served as headquarters for the Western Union telegraph company from 1875 until its destruction by fire in 1890. The building was ten stories tall, rising to a height of 230 feet . It provided workspace for 100 telegraph operators and was staffed 24 hours a day.

The building was topped by a clock tower, and some claim that this building was the first skyscraper in New York City. Beginning in 1877, a time ball was dropped from the top of the building at exactly noon, triggered by a telegraph from the National Observatory in Washington, D.C. This system, invented by George May Phelps, was later used as the initial reference for Standard railway time in 1883, and would stay in use until 1912. The building's time ball would serve as an inspiration for One Times Square's New Year's Eve "ball drop", first held on December 31, 1907.

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