From the 1940s through the sixties and seventies, 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 near the central Indiana town of Monon.
The tower in Monon appears to have been built in 19631 and stands 271 feet tall2. When in use, it relayed a signal from twenty-five miles away in Wheatfield to Winamac, twenty-three miles northeast. The tower relayed another signal twenty-three miles southeast to Burrows3.
After the Long Lines program ended, AT&T deaccessioned most of its towers around the year 2000. Today, the tower at Monon is used by the Monon Telephone Company4.
Sources Cited
1 Parcel 91-84-20-000-000.200-013 (2024). Office of the Assessor. White County [Monticello]. Web. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
2 Transmitter Characteristics (n.d.). Antennasearch. Web. Retrieved August 23 2024.
3 Long Lines Map and Information (n.d.). Web. Map. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
4 (See footnote 2).
Wow, I would not have guessed that something called The Monon Telephone Company existed today. It sounds like a relic from, say, 1910.