Western Electric Company 1910 - Early Bell System Company

Beautifully engraved unissued certificate from the International Western Electric Company . This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company around 1910 and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle.








Certificate Vignette



The Western Electric Company was formed in 1869 as a company in Cleveland, Ohio. Started out making telegraph equipment and misc. telephone equipment. In 1877 they moved to Chicago, Ill. And became Western Electric Company (official name). They supplied Western Union with their phone equipment from 1878 – 1879. In 1881 they were bought out by The Bell Company. They became the sole suppliers of the Bell System. They eventually sold to their own employees who formed the company Graybar Electric Company that is still in business.

In the early 1900s, AT&T; engaged in businesses that ranged well beyond the national telephone system. Through its International Western Electric Company, its international manufacturing subsidiary, AT&T; and affiliated companies around the world manufactured equipment to meet the needs of the world's telephone companies. These firms also sold equipment imported from the United States. By 1914, International Western Electric Company locations included Antwerp, London, Berlin, Milan, Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Tokyo, Montreal, Buenos Aires, and Sydney.

In 1925, Walter Gifford, the newly elevated to the presidency of AT&T;, decided that AT&T; and the Bell System should concentrate on its stated goal of universal telephone service in the United States. He sold the International Western Electric Company to the newly formed International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT) for $33 million in 1925