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 across Indiana. One looms over an elementary school in Anderson.
The tower in Anderson appears to have been built in 19661. Rising 345 feet2, it served as a hub of sorts. It relayed a signal from Muncie, nineteen miles northeast, to another twenty-three miles northwest in Point Isabel, as well as another sixteen miles southwest in Noblesville3. Today, the structure retains five fan-shaped KS-15676 horn antennae.
After the Long Lines program ended, a successor to AT&T sold most of the towers around 2000. Today, Anderson’s remains part of AT&T’s cell service network4.
Sources Cited
1 Parcel 48-11-15-404-084.000-003 (2024). Office of the Assessor. Madison County [Anderson]. Web. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
2 Transmitter Characteristics (n.d.). Antennasearch. Web. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
3 Long Lines Map and Information (n.d.). Web. Map. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
4 (See footnote 2).
