Camp Evans' Open House 

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Open House a Success
November 20, 1999

Army Sponsored Tour of Camp Evans attracts over 1,000 visitors to the first time since 1941 the general public has been allowed in Marconi Hotel and WWII radar development laboratory.

Members of the Wall High ROTC greet the public at the security gate.  Thanks to the thirty-five cadets and Commander Nahari who helped during the day.  The interior and part of the exterior of this building was painted by Amy, Dawn, and Gary Crawford.

1,000 people tour historic Camp Evans
By DON STINE CORRESPONDENT
Asbury Park Press
Monday, November 22, 1999 - Pg.3

WALL - Telecommunications history from the early wireless telegraph laboratories of Guglielmo Marconi to the first transmission of a radio signal off the moon greeted visitors touring the former Camp Evans site Saturday.
  About 1,000 people showed up to tour the 208-acre site - many more than were expected by tour organiz-ers.
   "We are thrilled and overwhelmed with the turnout. People really seem interested in this site," said Fred Carl, director of Infoage Inc., a nonprofit corporation seeking to develop an "Information Age Learning Center" at the site.
   "The site should be saved on its historic merits alone ... and it also presents a ready-made park for the area," he said.
   For 86 years, until it was closed 1993, Camp Evans served as one the most important sites in the world for telecommunications research and development. The site was closed as part of the post-Cold war effort to streamline the military, and the Army has been cleaning up the site for transfer to public and educational use.
  Marconi set up his first major commercial enterprise on the site and the Marconi Hotel and Cottage
and other historic buildings associated with the Italian inventor's company were on the tour.
  Telecommunication facilities built by the military during both world wars were also on the tour.
  In January 1946, the space race began at Camp Evans when scientists bounced a radio signal off the moon - an event that made headlines around the world.
  "This place brings back a lot of memories," said Neptune resident Anne Jupiter, who worked at Camp Evans for 38 years.
  Jupiter said Camp Evans was always a multifaceted facility that was home to many great engineers and scientists. She said she is glad to see the site being used for recreation and education.
  "I do hope they preserve the history of this place," she said. Portions of the site are expected to be turned over to Wall early next year for recreation and Brookdale Community College.
  The Army has spent about $25 million to clean the site and remove any contamination before transferring it to public and private use.
  Michael T. Ruane, a base transition coordinator who gave a bus tour Saturday, said the property would probably be worth about $220 million on the open market today.

Across Marconi Road in the 1914 chief-engineers cottage our member group OMARC held amateur radio demonstrations. Bob Buus gave interesting talks about early Marconi transmitters and demonstrated his spark-gap transmitter.

Parking lot 1 was filled, the ROTC cadets directed traffic to a nearby over-flow lot.

Michael Ruane, Fort Monmouth Base Transistion coordinator, loads the bus with another tour. At one point we had to give numbers out, so many people wanted to take Michael's interesting 217 Acre tour.  By the end of the day Michael had conducted continous tours from 9am to 4pm. Thanks Michael, we owe you a pint or two.

While the bus was off on a tour the crowd gathers for the next one.

Our historian, Tim Donovan, begins one of the smaller tours of the 1914 Marconi Hotel. Some of the tours had over 50 people in one group. Tim was filmed by a Fort Monmouth film crew during this tour. We also gave tours of the 1942 radar laboratory.  We had three simultaneous tours, all day.

The 'library' or building 9032 was filled with informational displays and experts to answer questions. The tall gold displays on the side wall were provided by the former inventors hall of fame from the U.S. Patient office. We selected Marconi, the transistor inventors, Alexander Graham Bell, and Edwin Armstrong. All persons who were directly connected with Camp Evans or their technology was improved by Camp Evans engineers. Some of the postcards displayed were views of Camp Evans during its Marconi Belmar High Power Station days.  One was actually mailed on November 20, 1915, 84 years ago to the day.

Our Project Diana corner featured the Fort Monmouth Museum's - Project Diana site model, photos, and a 1946 recording of a WOR broadcast interview of the principle Project Diana engineers.  Colonel John H. DeWitt Jr., was in charge of the project, they used a modified version of the SCR-271 early-warning radar used at Pearl Harbor, pictured on the right..

Thanks to...
  Fort Monmouth for hosting the event. Mindy Rosewitz of the Fort Monmouth Museum. Charles Appleby, Michael Ruane, Henry Kearney, Larry Tormey, Wilma Morrissey, Bob McAllen, Jim Stigliano, John Cervini, Gayle Koepping, Bernie Riccardi, Ron Olaender, Bob Buus, Howard Fuhrmann, Glenn Wolfrom, Ray Chase, Jerry and Marcia Simkin, Bob Judge, Phil Vourtis, Marv Beeferman, Marty Friedman, Al Klase, Dane Snellman, Sal Brisindi, Claire French, Tim Donovan, Milton Edelman,
Commander Nahari,
  Wall High ROTC cadets: Russell Scalley, Blake Fornaratto, Thomas Capaci, Derek Frabizio, Nikki McPhail, Ed Mikuszewski, Kyle Ward, Robert Nieratko, Rachael Clause, Erika Safran, Joe Pinto, Dave Ackerman, Frank Bennett, Kari Davis, Anthony Gallinari, April Hulsizer, Matt Pressey, George Sabol, Steve DeNoia, Mark Harris, Robert Harris, Dave Allmer, Kyle Petillo, John Calabrese, Kovas Juska & Robert O’Heney
and ???? - apologies to those who I have not named.

And thanks to the families who visited Camp Evans...



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