Braceville Township in Trumbull County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Highway of Light
Airway Beacon & Tower No. 36 C-NY
Photographed by Craig Doda, November 15, 2025
1. Highway Of Light Marker
A newer use for the airplanes after World War I was mail delivery. Airplanes moved mail faster than trains, but flying only during daylight hours slowed delivery and flying at night was dangerous. The Army Air Service constructed an experimental lighted beacon route for night flying between Columbus and Dayton in 1923. With proof that such a system could work, the U.S. Postal Service developed what later enthusiasts call a "highway of light" to guide air mail pilots on the transcontinental routes between New York to San Francisco and across the nation.
The system between New York and Chicago was completed by July 1925. By 1946, 2,112 beacons operated along 124 airways nationwide. The International Derrick & Equipment Company (IDECO) built beacon towers and this one survives as an example. Advancements in electronic navigation in the 1930s began to supplant the high towers and bright beams of "highway of light." although some survived into the 1960s. This tower was originally located 10 miles north on Airport Road, NW, directly north of Warren. Ohio and was relocated here, to Warren Skeets Airport, in the summer of 1954.
Erected 2020 by Warren Skeets Airport Incorporated, Founder, Hirst "Skeets" Fieldhouse; The Ohio History Connection. (Marker Number 39-78.)
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Location. 41° 16.322′ N, 80° 55.648′ W. Marker is near Braceville, Ohio, in Trumbull County. It is in Braceville Township. It is on Herr Fieldhouse Road (County Road 124) 0.3 miles west of Barclay Messerly Road (County Road 123), on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3598 Herr Fieldhouse Rd, Southington OH 44470, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Ohio’s Western Reserve and in the Mahoning Valley. It is also in the American Midwest. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Southington Township Centralized School and Monument Park (approx. 3 miles away); World War Veterans Memorial (approx. 3.3 miles away); Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal In Leavittsburg (approx. 3.4 miles away); Leavittsburg Vietnam Conflict Memorial (approx. 3.4 miles away); Leavittsburg Korean Conflict Memorial (approx. 3.4 miles away); Warren Township World War I & II Memorial
Photographed by Craig Doda, November 15, 2025
2. Highway Of Light Marker
Photographed by Craig Doda, November 15, 2025
3. Warren Skeets Airport
Photographed by Craig Doda, November 15, 2025
4. Highway Of Light Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on November 21, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 18, 2025, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. This page has been viewed 60 times since then and 27 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on November 18, 2025, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
