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Top of the Town
Tenleytown Heritage Trail #7
In Touch with the World
"Tenley Tower," behind you, dates from the mid-1940s. Western Union Telegraph Co. built it as part of an experimental system using microwaves to transmit telegrams in the mid-Atlantic region. This new technology helped erase telegraph wires and poles from the landscape. In addition, the tower was designed to relay recently invented television signals, which gave Western Union and its partner RCA a decided head start in the television revolution of the 1950s. During the Cold War era, the 90-foot tower also handled national security communications. In 1996 it became a cellular telephone transmitter.
Also taking advantage of this high point beginning in 1953 was Broadcast House, located behind the tower, at 40th and Brandywine Streets. With three WTOP TV studios and four WTOP radio studios, Broadcast House was the nation's first production facility designed for both media. In the 1950s, Pick Temple's Giant Ranch was produced here, with local children playing "Giant Rangers" amid the studio's bales of hay. It was home to Washington's CBS affiliate, until WUSA-9 moved to 4100 Wisconsin Avenue in 1992. In 1993 American University's public radio station WAMU moved into 4000 Brandywine Street.
The building diagonally across the intersection was N.M. Cohen and Samuel Lehrman's third DC-area Giant Food Store. When the first Giant opened in 1939, it helped end an era. In place of the grocer who quoted prices and handed you your order, Giant offered up-to-date marked pricing, self-service, and efficient check-out. |