A Timeline of AT&T's Pole Farm

A Timeline of AT&T's Pole Farm. . , The AT&T Pole Farm has a rich communications history in Lawrenceville dating back to 1929 when a new service was introduced providing transatlantic telephone service. Below is a timeline of the significant events and contributions made to our nation’s telecommunications history from this beautiful 820 acre property., 1925 , January 1927 – First transatlantic telephone call over single long wave circuit; $75 for the first three minutes; approximately 30 million telephones worldwide , June 1928 – AT&T constructs shortwave receiving station at Netcong, NJ (near intersection of I-80 and US-206) , August 1928 – AT&T selects Lawrenceville over several other sites for its shortwave transmitting station , September 1928 – AT&T spends $140,000 to acquire more than 800 acres from 15 local farm families , October 1928 – Construction begins (paving of Cold Soil Road, stringing electrical lines, bringing telephone service in from what is now Route 1) , May 1929 – Construction completed on two buildings and array of 26 steel towers, each 180 feet tall; total cost of Lawrenceville station is $2 million (in 1929 dollars) , June 1929 – First telephone call from Lawrenceville station (Cleveland-London); $45 for the first three minutes , April 1930 – Service begins to Buenos Aires, Argentina from Lawrenceville; $36 for the first three minutes , December 1930 – More than 200 transatlantic calls on Christmas Day; Lawrenceville staff grows to 30 , 1932 Service to Bermuda added using rhombic antenna design , May 1932 – Lawrenceville site pressed into service to provide telephone connections for Lindbergh kidnapping investigation , December 1936 – Service to Paris begins , 1937 Lawrenceville site handles over 50,000 international phone calls , 1939 26 steel towers {“Sterba” curtain antennas) torn down and sold for scrap , December 1941 – Pearl Harbor attacked; Churchill and Roosevelt converse via Lawrenceville station , Late 1943 – All important wartime communications moved from Lawrenceville to new secure War Department shortwave network , 1946 Period of rapid postwar growth begins with expansion of Building 1 , 1948 26 countries served by 31 transmitters and 46 rhombic antennas , 1955 One million international calls handled by Lawrenceville , 1957 New wing added to Building 1; 2.5 million calls handled by Lawrenceville , 1965 Intelsat launches Early Bird communications satellite; Poles begin to come down as service switches to cable for primary transatlantic circuits; Pole Farm viewed as a backup facility , December 1965 – Pole Farm goes dark; only thirteen antennas, five circuits, and one employee , Early 1976 – Buildings and remaining antennas demolished; one pole left standing , 1995 Mercer County acquires the site from AT&T for $8.6 million , 2013 Mercer Meadows opens to the public, Photos provided by: AT&T Archives Center, Library of Congress and the Mercer County Park Commission