The Hollands Grove Phone Tower

We've all seen it. The large tower at the intersection of Holland's Grove Road and Boyd Parkway. But Who? When? What? Why?

The tower actually predates the construction of McCluggage Road. In the early 1950's AT&T and Bell Telephone started constructing microwave radio towers for long distance telephone calls and for television signals. In the present day, unless the tower has been repurposed as a cell phone tower, all of these sites across the country are obsolete.

The Washington tower was constructed in early 1963 by Bell Telephone to be a connector between Benson and Peoria, as well as between Delavan and Lake Fork. The tower is 300 feet tall, the tallest in the chain of towers between Peoria and Chicago.

In 1961, there were some domestic terror activities involving blowing up phone towers in parts of the country. As a result, the concrete bunker at the tower is constructed of blast-resistant concrete.

In 1984, Illinois Bell sold the property to AT&T, and it assumed the tower is now used for cellular connection.