Home » HPL hosts AT&T’s Pole Farm: The History and Transformation of Mercer Meadows

HPL hosts AT&T’s Pole Farm: The History and Transformation of Mercer Meadows

by Community Contributor

Speaker Dennis Waters and the Hopewell Public Library will host a lecture learn all about AT&T’s “Pole Farm” at Mercer Meadows on Wednesday, November 6, at 7pm at the Hopewell Theater. This event and all Hopewell Public Library community talks are free and open to the public.

In 1928, AT&T purchased more than 800 acres of productive farmland in Lawrence and Hopewell Townships to build what became the world’s largest radiotelephone shortwave transmitting station. At its peak, in the early 1960s, it was a wonder of high-tech innovation, delivering millions of phone calls across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Changing technology made shortwave radio obsolete and the site was closed in 1975, reverting once again to farmland.

The Pole Farm is now a cornerstone of Mercer Meadows Park, providing passive recreation for thousands while retaining traces of its high-tech past.  From the park entrance on Cold Soil Road, Mercer Meadows consists of more than 1,600 acres, with miles of mowed and gravel trails that provide visitors and their families with scenic walking and biking routes through the meadows and woodland.

Dennis Waters is a retired internet publisher, and recently stepped down after twelve years of service as Lawrence Township Historian. Currently, he is a visiting scientist at the Chrysler Herbarium at Rutgers University, where he studies the lichens of central New Jersey. Dennis serves as a trustee of the Lawrence Township Community Foundation and the Friends of the Lawrence Nature Center. Previously, he served on the Lawrence Township Planning Board and as a trustee of the Lawrence Historical Society, the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, and Sustainable Lawrence. He also represents Lawrence on the Mercer County Library Commission. He received a Ph.D. in advanced technology from the Watson Engineering School at Binghamton University. 

The Hopewell Public Library’s Wednesday Night Out community presentations are held on the first Wednesday of each month.  All Hopewell Public Library events are free and open to the public.  The talks are often held at the Hopewell Theater, 5 S.Greenwood Ave. in Hopewell Borough.  For more information, check the HPL website at www.redlibrary.org, Facebook, or call the library at 609-466-1625. 

About Us

MercerMe is the only hyperlocal, independent, online news outlet serving Hopewell Valley in Mercer County, New Jersey.

Contact us: [email protected]

Search Our Archives