Nestled in the hills outside of the historic German town of Hermann, Missouri, is a former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site now used to support modern wireless telecommunications infrastructure.
Like most other sites along the Kansas City-St. Louis route, Hermann was constructed sometime in the 1950s and consists of a basic white concrete block base building. It would have been an “unmanned” site with a west-southwest hop to Holts Summit and a southeast hop to Gray Summit according to the 1960 and 1966 maps.
Photos from 2008 on Albert LaFrance’s website show the site with its original Western Electric tower still intact — minus the horn-reflector antennas. In the late 2010s, the tower was removed and replaced with a modern tower east of the building, which currently supports numerous smaller antennas.
The site is owned by Ameren, a regional utility provider, and marketed by Diamond Communications. As with many other former Long Lines sites, Ameren/Diamond lease spots on the tower for communications companies wishing to install antennas for cell phone repeaters, wireless internet service, two-way/ham/GMRS repeaters among other uses.
According to maprad.io, Ameren had eight canceled registrations linked to the site — each active between February 2004 and October 2005. No active registrations were found.
The site has two ASR (Antenna Structure Registration) numbers. ASR 1006232 refers to the 120-foot (37-meter) original tower, which was dismantled sometime in the late 2010s. ASR 1269177 refers to the new 197-foot (60-meter) tower, which was erected after the old tower was removed. Both registrations are owned by Union Electric, the predecessor to Ameren (UE).
Edit: While FCC records indicate the original tower (1006232) was dismantled in 2009, satellite imagery and accounts from others on the Long Lines Facebook Group showed the original Western Electric tower as still intact in 2018.
Photos: July 5, 2024
The former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site near Hermann, Missouri, is seen July 5, 2024. The site’s original 120-foot tower was dismantled in 2009 and replaced with the modern tower pictured to the right of the base station. Ameren, a regional utility company formerly known as Union Electric, owns the site and leases tower space through Diamond Communications.The former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site at Hermann, Missouri, features a white concrete block building similar to others found along the Kansas City-St. Louis relay route. (Photographed July 5, 2024.)FCC Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) numbers for the former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site near Hermann, Missouri. The ASR number on the left refers to the original 120-foot Western Electric tower that was demolished in 2009, while the ASR number on the right sign refers to the new modern tower that was constructed later that year. Both registrations are owned by Union Electric, the predecessor to Ameren, a regional utilities provider that owns the site. (Photographed July 5, 2024.)Another look at the white concrete block base building found at the former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site near Hermann, Missouri. It appears the original roof has been replaced with a metal one, and a lot of equipment has been installed on the exterior of the building. (Photographed July 5, 2024.)A look at the eastern side of the former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay base building near Hermann, Missouri. Notice the equipment mounted on the exterior wall, the “blast shield” and the generator muffler directly above the “blast shield.” Most of the other AT&T Long Lines base buildings of similar design along the Kansas City-St. Louis route lack the “blast shield” that protects the building’s air intake.The modern 197-foot tower that replaced the original 120-foot Western Electric tower at the former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site near Hermann, Missouri. Although there are plenty of antennas mounted on the tower, maprad.io showed no active registrations for the site. (Photographed July 5, 2024.)
