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The Asbury Park Press
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TOPPLED BY STRONG WIND
Fallen
Marconi Tower to Be Raised
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WALL TOWNSHIP -- The Army and the township are combining efforts to raise a fallen 58-year-old-radio tower which is a monument to the begining days of wireless ra- dio. The 60 foot steel tower, one of 30 erected by the pioneer Marconi Wireless telegraph Co. of America, was blown al- most completely down by high winds Friday. Raymond R. Russomano, assistant cordinator for the Army's Evans Area, a branch of the Electronics Coninand at Fort Monmouth, said township officials have asked the Army to help restore the tow- er. The site, on the Shark Riv- er was once part of the Evans Area but was given to the township as a monument in 1960. The tower, a dwarf com- pared to some of the others built by the company in 1913, is in a meadow off Marconi road. It stood during the his- toric test of Edward H. Arm- strong's regenerative circuit, which spurred wireless comt- unication in 1914 by increas- ing the volume of signals. Armstrong later developed frequency modulation . The restoration job is to be- |
gin today with a
township crew cleaning away under- brush around the tower base. Mr. Russomano says that is necessary before Army crews can begin raising the struc- ture to its vertical position. The Marconi Company was founded by the father wire- less radio, Italian Inventor, Guglielmo Marconi. It was succeeded after World War I by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Marconi bought the site in 1913 to build receiver equip- ment for commercial transit- atlantiv radio. The company built the present Evans Area headquarters building as a ho- tel for unmarried employes. The first antenna consisted of six towers, each 300 feet high. Other towers were add- ed later; some were made of wood and some of steel . The company abandoned the site in 1924, after other sta- tions father north proved more efficient. The Army ac- quired the area in 1941 and subsequently tore down 28 of Marconi's towers. The only other remaining tower, besides the present monument was blown down in a 1960 storm |
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***Arthur Krumm - 1970 ***
Article saved and given to Infoage by
Former Wall Township Mayor Mr. Arthur Krumm
Page updated August 13,
2004
page created August
13, 2004
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