Sixty and seventy years ago, AT&T built thousands of Long Line towers as part of its transcontinental microwave communications network. It’s been decades since they were used for their original purpose, but one still stands just outside of Valparaiso in Porter County.
The Valparaiso tower was built in 1950 as part of the initial line between New York and Chicago. Rising 190 feet1, it relayed signals 34 miles west to Chicago Heights from LaPorte, sixteen miles northeast2. Seventeen years ago, a bus ride past the Valpo tower is what hooked me on trying to find out what these concrete monoliths used to be!
Valpo’s Long Line tower still looms over the 49’er Drive-In more than seventy years after it was built. After the Long Lines program ended, AT&T sold many of its towers in 2000. Today, the Valparaiso’s is still used by AT&T, Engineer Structures, and Spectrum4.
Sources Cited
1 Transmitter Characteristics (n.d.). Antennasearch. Web. Retrieved June 8, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
2 Long Lines Map and Information (n.d.). Web. Map. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
3 (See footnote 1).
