The Central District and Printing Telegraph Company (CD and PT) was the Pittsburgh business community's first local printing telegraph network. A printing telegraph allowed the operator to use a keyboard to directly input the message text. The receiver would then receive instantly readable message text on a paper strip. This method was in contrast to telegraphs that used Morse Code dots and dashes, which needed to be converted into readable text. Printing telegraphs were first invented in 1846; the Western Union Company was the first to begin using them in the United States in 1851.

The CD and PT was founded in 1874 by Thomas B.A. David (1836-1918), the former superintendent of Western Union Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh. During the Civil War, David served as head of military telegraphs in West Virginia. David served as company president for six years.

Two years after the invention of the telephone, a telephone switchboard was established in the operating room of CD and PT in 1878. By 1880, almost all of the printers were replaced by telephones.

CD and PT was absorbed by Bell Telephone Co. in 1918.