Connects City With Outside

World By Use Of

Twenty Wires

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PAT MCHALE MANAGER

THIRTY-NINE YEARS

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Watches Growth From One

Wire To One Of Largest

Offices In State

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Figuring largely in the every day life of New Ulm is the Western Union Telegraph Company, just one of the company’s offices which is serving the United States today. Another feature of this local business place is the fact that the manager, P. R. McHale, well known resident of this city, has been serving in that capacity for thirty-nine years. This modern and up-to-date convenience operated by the Western Union Telegraph Company is one of the prominent factors in the business and social life of New Ulm and the immediate vicinity.

A few years ago everyone dreaded to open a telegram, fearing that it contained bad news, for it was not so long ago that the only time most people thought of utilizing the telegraph was when someone in the family had died or was at the point of death and relatives had to be summoned immediately. Consequently there was always consternation when the messenger boy appeared at the door with his telegram. The entire family gather-ed around anxious to learn the news, but fearful as to what the message might be. Mother often burst into tears even before the telegram had been opened and the children stood around wide-eyed while Dad summoned up enough courage to tear open the envelope.

This situation may still exist in a very few cases but the appearance of a messenger boy with a yellow envelope in his hand is not regarded in the same light as the appearance of the health officer with a yellow quarantine sign to tack upon the house. From a means of communication which was used in only the most important cases, the telegraph has changed into a modern business necessity.

First New Ulm Office

Frank Terrill opened the first Western Union Telegraph office in New Ulm in March 1887. The wires were moved from the Northwestern depot to the drug store owned by C. L. Roos which was located where the Muesing store now is. Mr. Terrill remained here until September 1, the same year, when P. R. McHale came to New Ulm from McGregor, Iowa, to take over the management of the office and act as the operator. For some years the office was conducted in the drug store building and was later moved to the postoffice, present Bee Hive location, and after a few years there the Company went into the building occupied by the American Express Company and remained there until moving to the location just next door to the Express office. There the business was conducted until January 1, 1926, when the Company moved their wires and cables to their present location in the new addition to the Fritsche clinic.

Occupy New Home.

The new location, 25X50 feet, has been arranged and decorated especially for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the regulations of the office have been carried out to the letter mark, even to the hanging of signs on the wall. A large full length plate glass window furnishes plenty of light and a side entrance completes the arrangement of the modern store front. The walls on the interior have been decorated according to regulations, the lower portion being a fawn color and the upper walls are tinted in a buff color. The steel ceiling is finished with white enamel.

Install New Fixtures

All of the fixtures in the office are new. A double writing desk with chairs is arranged in front of the marble topped counter which forms the partition dividing the operating section from the main lobby. The manager’s desk and the operating table is arranged in the enclosure. All of the fixtures are fashioned of solid oak and harmonize with the interior decorations. The rear of the building has been arranged in a small room the walls of which are decorated in the same colors as the front office and metal lockers for stationery and a clothes locker are provided.

A new standard size electric sign in blue and white has been received at the local office and Manager McHale states that it will be placed within a few days. The office is one of the newest and most modern of any owned by the Western Union Telegraph Company. Excellent service is afforded residents of this city and vicinity as the office is open from eight o’clock in the morning until 9 at night, offering continuous service. On Sundays the office is open from 9 to 10 in the morning and from 5 to 6 in the evening. Messages may be telephoned if the patron does not have time to go to the office and they will receive the same prompt and courteous attention given when they are received at the office. Prompt and efficient service has made the local office one of the city’s busiest places. Manager McHale can remember the time when he wouldn’t even hear a “tick” for two days at a time. Times have changed and today the company handles between 135 and 150 messages daily. Only one wire was used in the “good old days” while today there are twenty wires at the disposal of the operator. If one line is not available there is no delay as it is very easy to transfer to another line. The route of transmitting the messages may be a round about one, but it arrives in record time and there is no delay experienced.

Mr. McHale is assisted at the local office by George Schreyer who is the second operator and Albert Borth, the messenger. The telegraph station at the Eagle Roller Mill office is a branch of the local Western Union Office and is in charge of W. H. Windland.

When workmen completed the installation of the new Western Union Telegraph office at 2 First North St., recently, another epoch in local telegraph history was made, but this in no way can compare with the record of Mr. McHale, who for the past 39 years has been manager of the local telegraph office.

Thirty-nine Years Of Service

Thirty nine years of service to the community-few men in the telegraph work or any other line of public utility work can boast such a record. During that time, Mr. McHale, or “Pat” as he is popularly known, has seen the service here grow from a one wire station to the twenty wire service now linking New Ulm with great cities thruout the nation and all the world. He has seen the offices of the big telegraph company change from a one wire stand to one of the most efficient and up-to-date offices in the country. Mr. McHale dislikes notoriety and goes about his work in a quiet, unassuming manner. He has trained scores of operators, as boys, who are now located in all parts of the country holding important positions. New Ulm is proud of this sturdy citizen. He has lived a life of service here and has always been one of New Ulm’s most respected citizens. Everyone knows him and will speak highly of the man who for many years has been so closely allied with the growing prosperity of New Ulm. His true Irish wit makes him a favorite with his many friends. The telegraph came to Minnesota around the year 1860, and early history mentions that “the workmen had been much annoyed by rattlesnakes in the installation of the line”. The business dispatch said to have been sent over the line of the Minnesota State Telegraph Company is dated August 29, 1860, received by Charles D. Elfelt. In 1865 the Wisconsin State Telegraph Company purchased the lines of the Minnesota State Telegraph Company and these two concerns reorganized under the title of the North-Western Telegraph Co. The N. W. Telegraph Co., of which Z. G. Simmons of Kenosha, Wis., was president was purchased by the Western Union Telegraph Co., July 1,1881.

The railway was completed into New Ulm during 1872, and telegraph line construction followed the construction of the railway as far as Marshall. The independent Western Union Telegraph office was not installed here until March 3, 1887, under the management of F. D. Terrill, who was succeeded by Mr. McHale on Sept. 5,1887. The first messenger was George Picker, who served from March 3, 1887 to June 1, 1888. K. Zschunke, F. H. Baasen and C. Amorosch also served as messengers for Pat during the year of 1888.

Welcomes Friends

“Pat” is always “at home” at the Western Union office. He invited his many friend to surprise him by dropping in to see the fine, newly equipped office of which he is so proud, and which is an outstanding asset to the business and social life of New Ulm, the “City Beautiful” and the industrial center of Southwestern Minnesota.

New Ulm Review,

March 17, 1926