​By the early 1900s, Americans could place a telephone call to almost anywhere in North America, but not overseas.  To resolve this issue, in 1928 the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) purchased more than 800 acres of productive farmland in central New Jersey to build what became the world’s largest radiotelephone shortwave transmitting station.  It was named “The Pole Farm” after the thousands of tall antenna poles that were installed on the site.  At its peak in the early 1960s it was a high-tech wonder, delivering millions of telephone calls across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East.  Changing technology made shortwave radiotelephony obsolete and the site was closed in 1975, reverting once again to farmland.  The Pole Farm is now a county park, providing passive recreation for thousands while retaining traces of its historic high-tech past.