Ocean seeking to rebuild tower
Structure played role
in early long-distance radio communications
By carolyn o’connell
Staff Writer

Part of Ocean Township’s history has fallen down. A communications tower, one of five built in 1929 by AT&T that were used for ship-to-shore telephone and communications with Europe, collapsed and can be seen in the center of what is now Joe Palaia Park, near a driveway off Whalepond Road.

The governing body is attempting to have a tower rebuilt that resembles the fallen tower, but doing so is complicated by the location of the tower.

The park where the tower stood was purchased by the town with funding from the state’s Green Acres program. Therefore, there are restrictions on the type of structures that can be built on the property, formerly known as the Deal Test Site.

The governing body must submit a request to the State House Commission if it is to restore the tower, according to Township Manager David R. Kochel.

"This is a unique situation," said Kochel. "The towers are an integral part of the history which will be lost."

A resolution adopted during a council meeting on April 23 states that the township is requesting the removal, replacement and commercial leasing of collapsed tower No. 1.

The tower would be built to resemble the original lattice design, with a base platform, equipment housing and ancillary wireless telephone and radio support equipment.

"If the township is able to lease the tower, the revenue generated would be used for maintenance of the four remaining towers, signs on walking trails [indicating the history of the site] and general maintenance for the park," Kochel said.

The other towers, he noted, are not sound enough to be leased.

If permission is granted and the tower is rebuilt, the tower could be leased to cell phone companies, for pager systems and amateur radio clubs, and the township could use it for its communications networks for the public works, fire and police departments.

Township officials are quite aware of the type of revenue such a tower can generate.

According to Kochel, a 250-foot communications tower erected in the industrial section of the town near the Seaview Square Mall by Bell Atlantic, now owned by Crown Castle Atlantic, generates $60,000 in revenue for the township.

Kochel said that it is a good deal, since the township did not pay to have the tower erected and uses the tower for township communications.

The latter company also owns the 400-foot tower, which is no longer operational, built to replace the existing tower.

The 400-foot tower is expected to be imploded within the next 30 days, according to Kochel.

According to the township, the park was originally called the Foxburst Farm, a 63-acre tract which is now the southern portion of the park. It was purchased by Western Electric, a manufacturing arm of AT&T, in 1919.

The remaining 145 acres were purchased by AT&T in 1927.

As the importance of global communication grew after World War I, AT&T chose the park to conduct ship-to-shore experiments in which communications were sent as far as 300 miles off the New Jersey coast. Three more towers were erected in a triangular pattern and used to broadcast speech and music for a range of 1,000 miles. In 1921 the same company built a two-story white building, which was used for a laboratory and dormitories for the engineers.

Because of these early experiments, AT&T was able to operate a commercial short wave radio telephone service to England.

Research continued through the 1930s in conjunction with Bell Labs, to create shorter wave lengths, which led to the development of the microwave radio systems used to carry long distance calls.

In 1953 the test site was sold to developers in Jersey City, who leased the property to the U.S. Army Signal Corps for tracking satellites. A 28-inch dish antenna on a 40-foot tower near the Bicentennial Oak Tree was used to pick up signals from Russian satellites Sputnik I and II.

In the 1960s the Army transmitted the first photograph via facsimile ("fax") to Puerto Rico from the site using the Courier satellite.