The Mexican Telegraph Company The Zimmerman Telegram - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

From the Galveston Historical Foundation: (visit link)

Galveston Historical Foundation invites the public to a marker dedication, commemorating the Zimmermann telegram and Galveston’s role in the retransmission of the message, on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 11 a.m. Held at 1605 33rd Street, directly behind the 1838 Menard House, the dedication is free to attend.

In January of 1917, British intelligence intercepted and decrypted a secret telegram from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German envoy to Mexico. In it, Zimmermann offered the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. The British gave a copy of Zimmermann’s message to the U.S. government, which in turn leaked it to the press. On March 1st, the telegram made headline news in virtually every major American newspaper. Many Americans were outraged by the German plot to embroil their country in a war with Mexico, and on April 6th, the United States declared war against Germany.

“Shortly after the nation became aware of the telegram, the United States committed to entering World War I,” explains Dwayne Jones, Galveston Historical Foundation’s Executive Director. “Many historians believe that the telegram played a role in shifting public opinion against Germany.”

The small equipment and battery building, originally located at 1819 Avenue O, is an artifact of the Mexican Telegraph Company, early telegraph operations in Texas, and the Zimmermann telegram. In all likelihood, this small building, which housed batteries and equipment for transmission to and from Mexico, was the location for the retransmission of the Zimmermann telegram to Mexico in January 1917.

For much of the twentieth century, Italian immigrant Pompeo Urbani operated a grocery store on the site and utilized the building. In early 1995, with the building was in danger of demolition, preservationists Fred and Pat Burns cooperated with Galveston Historical Foundation to relocate it to land behind the 1838 Michel B. Menard House, where it still stands.

Marker Number: 18753 Marker Text: In 1917, with World War I at a stalemate, German military leaders adopted an aggressive strategy to strike any ships, even those of neutral nations, encountered in the Atlantic. As part of a campaign to hinder entry of the U.S. into the war, Germany’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Arthur Zimmerman, signed off on a message to Mexican president Venustiano Carranza offering financial support and other considerations in return for Mexico's invasion of the American Southwest. Unable to hand deliver the message to Mexico's envoy, Germany sent it via transatlantic cables, but Britain had cut the German line, forcing a reliance on American cables. On Jan. 16, 1917, the Zimmerman telegram was transmitted from Germany to Washington, D.C., where the German Ambassador sent it on to Mexico City via the Mexican Telegraph Co. Trans-Gulf Cable, which entered Galveston near 19th Street beneath the seawall. A small building at 1819 Ave. O housed equipment which relayed the encoded telegram on to Mexico. British intelligence agents, monitoring messages via the U.S. Embassy in London, intercepted and deciphered the telegram. They handed a copy to the U.S.. Government on Feb 19. Upon reviewing the message, President Woodrow Wilson abandoned hopes of securing a peaceful conclusion to the war. He arranged for a copy of the telegram to be leaked to the press, thereby helping to accelerate the U.S. entrance into the war and the eventual victory for the allies. In the years following armistice in 1918, the Mexican Telegraph Co. merged with Western Union. The Galveston office remain open for 66 years closing in 1949. To prevent demolition, the telegraph company building was relocated in 1995 and then restored. (2017) Marker is Property of the State of Texas

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