Designed to last. During the height of the Cold War, the importance of the Long Line towers grew. Military phone calls and data were transmitted through the towers. Many towers had their base stations installed underground in shielded rooms that were tested to withstand the EMP produced by a nuclear blast.
Between early wired networks and today’s fiber optics sat a system of microwave relay towers transmitting information from coast to coast across the United States. Built in the early 1950s, this line-of-sight network spanned the continent using zig-zag patterns to avoid signal overlap. It conveyed phone conversations and television signals from the era of the Kennedy assassination through the resignation of Nixon.
Today, many of the towers are in disrepair or have been taken down entirely, but some are built into the very design of urban architecture. Others can be easy to miss among HVAC outcroppings, cell towers and other antennas but are possible to spot if you know what you’re looking for. In the countryside, old towers are often found adjacent to concrete bunkers (some are even occasionally for sale). At times, you can even catch a glimpse them in late night show backgrounds.
Obsolete in today’s world of fiber optics, satellites and wireless internet, many of the towers have been taken down or swapped out for cellular use. Some, however, serve as emergency backups in rural areas. And others, it would seem, are so built into the aesthetic of their associated buildings that owners have seen no reason to remove them.
AT&T Long Lines Places and Routes Maps, Diagrams and Lists
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