How Much Do You Really Know About ADT Home Security?

So you have seen the ADT Home Security commercials on television and think you know a thing or two about the company, right? Did you know that ADT has been around for over 100 years? Do you know what ADT stands for? Like many successful home security companies ADT Home Security is part of a larger company called ADT that has been around for a very long time. However, ADT does not have the public past that some of its competitors have so you may not be as familiar with the parent company of ADT as you are with ADT Home Security. The history of ADT is pretty interesting and filled with things that not many people know.

ADT started as a company that delivered telegraphs to people by hand. In 1874 there were 57 telegraph companies that decided to affiliate themselves together and call themselves American District Telegraph otherwise known as ADT. They existed to get information to their customers and in the 1880s the call box was invented and now customers could talk directly to ADT instead of just telegraph. Call boxes slowly grew and soon ADT was delivering messages to people all over their region. In the early 1900s ADT was experimenting with technology and using the technology of the day to keep track of their delivery personnel so that they knew where they were at all times. It was state of the art back then and soon ADT was catching the eye of some of the larger communications companies.

Merger And Then Public Listing

In 1901 ADT was purchased by Western Union to create one large communications company. The next move was inevitable as communication giant AT&T bought the Western Union / ADT company in 1909. Between 1910 and 1930 ADT started to create and sell burglar alarm systems for businesses and fire alarm systems to municipalities. The company continued to grow until the World War II era when they started to develop and sell the first automatic alarm system in response to the shortage of law enforcement in the United States due to the war draft.

In 1969 ADT Home Security was put on the New York Stock Exchange and has been a successful company every since. ADT Home Security has been through several buy outs over the years until they were bought by Tyco in 1998. Today ADT Home Security is one of the largest security companies in the world.