Angola’s old Long Line tower

Ted Shideler
Read time: 2 min.

AT&T built thousands of microwave relay towers as part of its Long Line communications network. Although they haven’t been used as part of it in nearly forty years, many towers remain standing. Here’s one near Angola, Indiana.

Angola’s Long Line Tower, seen on November 11, 2023.

The tower near Angola was built in 19501 as part of AT&T’s first transcontinental microwave route from New York to Chicago. The concrete tower measures 26 feet square2 and rises 210 feet3. Originally, it relayed a signal from a tower 18 miles away in Bryan, Ohio, to another 18 miles northwest in LaGrange4. 

A closeup of Angola’s Long Line tower from November 11, 2023.

After the Long Lines program ended, successor to AT&T successor sold the Angola tower in 20005. Today, it’s used by Sprint Nextel for cell phone service6.

Sources Cited
1 Parcel 760634000017008011 (2023). Office of the Assessor. Steuben County [Angola]. Web. Retrieved December 24, 2023. 
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Transmitter Characteristics (n.d.). Antennasearch. Web. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
4 Long Lines Map and Information (n.d.). Web. Map. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
5 (See footnote 1).
6 (See footnote 3).

4 thoughts on “Angola’s old Long Line tower”

  1. I ran across a tower today that appears to be an old Long Lines Tower, but it’s about 10 miles from the Leo Tower. Did they have some that close together? Perhaps it was someone’s other than AT&T.

    It’s north of Harlan at the intersection of Hurshtown and Boger Roads. The area around it is full of reels of the orange housings being used for fiber optic installation.

    Allen Co GIS says:
    LOCALLY ASSESSED PROPERTY OWNED BY A TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH, OR CABLE COMPANY-COMMERCIAL
    It’s registered in an individual’s name but DBA Verizon

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/SUanA6seyFShJzno7

    I’ve got a photo I can send you.

    Howard Pletcher

    Reply

    1. Some were close together but served different lines. I’d be really interested to look into. The one you ran across! I don’t know if you can add photos to the comment thread here, but you could email it to me at my first name (Ted) at my full name (Ted Shideler) .com, with no spaces or caps.

      Reply

  2. The long lines tower in Angola might get demolished soon. The owner of the site put up a new cell tower right beside the old tower. I’ve seen it happen to other long lines sites in the past.

    Reply

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