In the early 1940s, the Bell System upgraded telephone cabling systems across the nation from the Voice Frequency (VF) system to the K-carrier system to increase capacity.
Whereas stations along the VF system could be spaced approximately 50 miles apart, K-carrier repeaters had to be located around 17 miles apart. Therefore, the Bell System erected two repeater huts between each of the former VF main stations. One such hut was built just a couple miles east of Columbia along present-day Interstate 70, which the cable ran parallel to, in order to connect the Boonville station with one at Kingdom City.
This site was originally known as “Kingdom City KW,” as it was the station immediately west of the Kingdom City VF main station.
Sometime between 1950 and 1967, the K-carrier hut was expanded. In 1966, AT&T transferred ownership of the K-carrier huts along the Kansas City-St. Louis route to the local RBOC, Southwestern Bell.
Southwestern Bell would transfer ownership of the Columbia K-carrier hut back to AT&T sometime in the early 1980s.
In the late 1980s, following the Bell System divestiture in 1984, a relatively short tower was erected for use in the AT&T Long Lines microwave network. The site had microwave links with Prairie Home to the southwest and Centralia to the north.
The Columbia POP (point of presence) — as the site is also known as — was also a fiber regeneration station starting in the 1980s. Fiber optics cable markers, along with transcontinental cable markers, can still be found at the site.
Even more recently the building was yet again expanded, this time to host switches for the newest form of telecommunications. According to telcodata.us, the site — registered with CLLI CLMAMORS — houses several cellular telephone switches for different carriers. The switches, with their served carriers and office codes, are:
- CLMAMORS0MD, operated by T-Mobile, serving 573-462, 573-529, 573-639 and 573-797 exchanges.
- CLMAMORSCMD, operated by New Cingular Wireless (AT&T Mobility), serving 573-825 exchange.
- CLMAMORSHMD
- CLMAMORSXMD
- CLMAMORSY4X
- CLMAMORSY4X
Although the site is still co-located between T-Mobile and AT&T Mobility, the property is still owned by AT&T — as evidenced by the “Death Star” logo on the building and an “AT&T Towers” sign on the tower area fence.
Photos: April 12, 2025
