- Common Language Identifier: AUVLMO
- Coordinates: 38º59’29.70″ N, 93º41’00.10″ W (38.99158 N, 93.68336 W)
- County: Lafayette
- AT&T call sign: KAR87
- Antenna Structure Registration number: 1005480
- Height (overall): 74.1 meters (243.1 feet)
- Current owner: State of Missouri (Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network)
- Current use: MOSWIN repeater
- Horn antennas? No
- Original hops: 1960 — Dover (telephone only), Holden (telephone only)
- Later hops: 1979 — Knob Noster CO
If you’ve ever driven from St. Louis to Kansas City along Interstate 70, you’ve passed by this site.
Between the Higginsville and Concordia exits on I-70 is an ornate brick building that was once used as a repeater for AT&T’s cable and microwave long distance networks. Built sometime in the early 20th century along the Kansas City-St. Louis cable route that followed the I-70 corridor, its history prior to joining the Long Lines microwave relay network is unfortunately unknown outside of it being a cable repeater site.
However, it is known a 240-foot tower was built in August 1958 to support two pairs of KS-15676 horn-reflector antennas. Unlike the Kansas City-St. Louis cable route that Aullville supported, the telephone-only microwave relay route initially ran from the La Cygne, Kansas, site to Dover. In the early 1960s, this route was later extended to Helena.
In the 1970s, a third telephone-only hop was added — this time to the telephone central office in Knob Noster.
As a child, the base building reminded me of a bank. Oddly enough, another former Long Lines site featuring a similar base station right off I-70 near Wright City on the other side of the state is a bank.
Tim Souder, a former AT&T technician, said many in the Bell System were fond of the building. One was Wendell Olson, who lived in nearby Concordia and was featured in the 1999 AT&T Retirees story “Tower Power” of AT&T’s divestiture of the Long Lines towers to American Tower.
“The tech that had Aullville always wanted to make it a museum. He had storage buildings full of telephony artifacts. He lived in Concordia.”
-Tim Souder
The State of Missouri currently owns the site for its Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network (MOSWIN), a Project 25 trunked radio system used by public safety agencies throughout the state. No MOSWIN equipment is located inside the former AT&T building. Instead, MOSWIN repeater equipment is installed in a new base station located at the tower base.
McCullough Comsites
The tower was previously owned by the McCullough Comsites Corporation, who purchased many former Long Lines sites and rented out tower space. McCullough had this listed on their [archived] website (circa 2001.) They also had photos of the site listed from 2001.
LOCATION
Aullville, Missouri. Twenty-Five miles east of Kansas City, MO on I-70 just west of the intersection of I-70 and Hwy T, in Lafayette County, MO.SITE DESCRIPTION
Real estate consists of a 213′ x 350′ lot containing 1.71 acres, m/l, bordered on the north by the outer road (old Hwy 40) and on the west by Tower Road (probably named after the property). East and south side are fenced, north and west sides are open to the roads. A private asphalted driveway enters the property. Property contains one building and one large self-supported tower with a chain-link fence enclosing the tower area.BUILDING & TOWER
Building is approximately 70′ x 80′ with red brick exterior. There is one front entry (double steel doors), one rear entry, and one exterior stairwell leading to a set of double doors entering the basement. Building has a full basement. Main level has a large equipment room which once housed extensive microwave transceivers, restrooms, various storage and janitorial rooms, and mechanical equipment spaces. Ceiling is approximately 16′ high. The foyer has a stairwell leading to the basement where additional mechanical equipment is located (Diesel generator, heating & AC, pumps, filters, power switching, etc.). Also, there is a large empty equipment area in the basement. Ceiling height in the basement is approximately 13′. Building exterior once contained windows which have been covered by brick. Grounds were well landscaped and nicely maintained during the time AT&T owned the property. The tower is a massive 4-legged self support (no guy wires) structure with a strobe beacon on top. All the microwave dishes have been removed.
Knob Noster central office
Added March 11, 2024
Thanks to a Redditor replying on a thread about this site, I learned Aullville had a third hop added after the 1966 map to Knob Noster. I had recently came across a photo of the Knob Noster central office with its KS-15676 horns, but didn’t even put it together that the horns were pointed toward Aullville (not Windsor or Holden) until the reply.
The Knob Noster central office still stands on the southwestern corner of West Bridge Street and North State Street. The tower/structure/parapet that held the antennas have long since been removed.
Photos: September 2021
The photos below were taken September 17, 2021 with a higher-quality camera and with better lighting. The Aullville site is surrounded on two sides by crops. Said crops were actually being harvested at the time these photos were taken.
Photos: August 2018
(Above photographs taken August 9, 2018 using a Samsung Galaxy Express Prime 2.)
McCullough Site Images (c. 2001)
These pictures were featured on the McCullough Comsites Aullville, MO page on their website, circa about 2001.
Some of the text and photographs featured on this page were/are property of McCullough Comsites Corporation. They are featured here, found as-is from the archived version of their website, for archival and educational purposes.