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Most Endangered Places
2003

Old Engine Company 6
Rutherford B. Hayes School
911-919 New Jersey Ave., SE
Carter G. Woodson House
Woodlawn Cemetery
Martin Luther King, Jr. Pub. Library
Anne Archbold Hall
St. Elizabeths
DC World War I Memorial
Uline Arena/Washington Coliseum
Corcoran Hunting Lodge
Capitol Park
Western Telegraph Company

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Most Endangered Places for 2003

WESTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY TENLEY SITE

4623 41ST STREET, NW

HISTORY
The Western Telegraph Company Tenley site was built in 1947 and is the only architect designed building in the nation designed solely as an antenna structure. In March 1945 the FCC authorized the Western Union Telegraph Company to place into service an experimental microwave relay system between New York and Philadelphia. The system to beam telegraph between stations used radio frequencies that had previously only been used by military radar systems.

Western Union bought the property at 4623 41st Street, NW in September 1945 and hired Leon Chatelain, Jr. to design the new Tenley transmission tower. Construction began in July 1946 and was completed on March 24, 1947.

Western Union continued to operate the facility until its sale in 1996 to Micronet, Inc. In 1997 American Tower Corporation acquired Micronet and all of its assets. Currently the site is used as a communications facility, mainly for personal wireless services.

WHAT IS THE THREAT?
There are plans for a 756-foot tower and ongoing alterations without initiating Section 106 consultation with the DC SHPO. The telecommunications and broadcast industries continue to lobby the FCC for streamlining its environmental compliance (NEPA & Section 106) obligations.

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