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 Jackson County community of Clear Springs.
The Long Line Tower at Clear Spring was built in 19641 and rises 218 feet tall2. During its AT&T days, its KS-15676 horn antennae relayed a signal from Salem, twenty-two miles southeast, to New Unionville, twenty-two miles northwest3.
After the Long Lines program ended, AT&T deaccessioned most of its towers around the year 2000. Today, American Tower Management owns Edwardsville’s old Long Line Tower4.
Sources Cited
1 Parcel 36-63-29-200-008.000-010 (2025). Office of the Assessor. Jackson County [Brownstown]. Web. Retrieved November 1, 2025.
2 Transmitter Characteristics (n.d.). Antennasearch. Web. Retrieved November 1, 2025.
3 Long Lines Map and Information (n.d.). Web. Map. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
4 (See footnote 1).
With all these towers, no wonder long distance calls used to be so expensive!
It was quite the infrastructure.
My parents were in California not long ago and snapped a photo of one out there. Using a map I found online, I could connect it to the tower in downtown Muncie.
What I find surprising is how many of these towers appear to be not used for anything today. This tower looks to have no other antennas on it so it would seem to be just standing there unused. Having once worked for a cellular provider, I understand that most are probably not in optimum locations for predicted signal pattern and volume but surely there must be something they could be used for like ham radio repeaters, etc.
I guess it is cheaper to let them stand in place than it would be to dismantle and scrap.
I’ve been to somewhere between 60-70% of Indiana’s old Long Line towers, and you’re right. Many don’t appear to be used. Many do, though! I’d imagine you’re right with regards to how their placed and the costs associated with tearing them down. Only a handful I’m aware of have been demolished.