text: In 1855, Sisters of Mercy from Galway came to Clifden and established St Joseph's Convent, followed by an orphanage and St Joseph's Industrial School in 1858.
  Early 20th century
  Wireless telegraphy and transatlantic flight
  Clifden gained prominence after 1905 when Guglielmo Marconi decided to build his first high power transatlantic long wave wireless telegraphy station four miles (6 km) south of the town to minimize the distance to its sister station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. The first point-to-point fixed wireless service connecting Europe with North America opened for public service with the transmission of 10,000 words on 17 October 1907. At peak times, up to 200 people were employed by the Clifden wireless station, among them Jack Phillips, who later perished as Chief Radio Operator on the Titanic.
  On 15 June 1919 the first non-stop transatlantic flight by Alcock and Brown crashlanded in Derrygimlagh bog, close to Marconi's transatlantic wireless station. When Captain Alcock spotted the green bog he thought it was a meadow where he could safely land his Vickers Vimy biplane. The aircraft's landing gear sank into the soft bog and was destroyed. Alcock and Brown were later transported back to Clifden town by stagecoach with only minor injuries. When they returned using the Marconi Railway, the locals had helped themselves to parts of the aircraft as souvenirs.