The Guam Cable Station is where the United States territory of

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

was first connected via modern telecommunications to the rest of the world. Reduced to ruins by the fighting of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the ruins of the establishment remain on the grounds of Naval Base Guam on the west side of the island.

History

In 1901, the

Commercial Pacific Cable Company Commercial Pacific Cable Company was founded in 1901, and ceased operations in October 1951. It provided the first direct telegraph route from America to the Philippines, China, and Japan. The company was established as a joint venture of three ...

offered to lay a cable between the

continental United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...

and Guam at no cost to the federal government. In 1903 the company began construction of a series of buildings near what was the village of Sumay. Designed to be proof against typhoons, earthquakes, and other perils, the complex included the main cable station building, several buildings of living quarters, and a self-contained water supply system. The cable connecting Guam to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

was completed in June 1903, marking the complete encirclement of the globe by communications cables. This station became a major communications hub, eventually also housing cables to China and the island of

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

, and becoming an early-warning center for typhoons. Operation of the cable was interrupted by the Japanese invasion of Guam in 1941. It resumed with the liberation of Guam in 1944, but continued only until 1951, when the cable between Guam and Hawaii was broken. Since then the remains of the cable station have been succumbing to the elements. Its remains were listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Guam in 1979.

References

Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam Infrastructure completed in 1903 Communications in Guam * World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in Guam 1903 establishments in Guam Sumay, Guam Telecommunications buildings on the National Register of Historic Places Telegraph stations {{Guam-struct-stub