{"nrhp_refnum":"08000756","name":"Marconi Tower at Port Arthur College","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"1500 Procter","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Arthur","county":"Jefferson County","state":"TX","lat":29.88137692600003,"lon":-93.92653708299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-08-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Communications"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 130-foot free-standing steel radio tower on the campus of Lamar State College-Port Arthur (formerly Port Arthur College) at 1500 Procter, Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas, erected in 1909.","why_significant":"The tower was a key educational component of the new vocational school, which taught wireless telegraphy using a Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company antenna and instruments. Students gained hands-on experience sending and receiving messages with ships at sea. It later served as a radio broadcast tower for the college and community, and is the oldest structure on campus.","narrative":"Rising 130 feet above the campus of Lamar State College-Port Arthur, this steel lattice tower was erected in 1909 for Port Arthur College, a vocational school founded by John W. Gates. Four canted legs about 20 feet apart at the base support a finial, and the original antenna was 50 feet tall. The Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company donated the antenna and teaching instruments, and students trained as wireless operators by exchanging messages with ships at sea. In the 1930s the tower also served the college radio station, and it was later used for broadcasting that served the wider Port Arthur community. Salt-laden Gulf Coast air badly corroded the structure, so in 2001 it was dismantled, repaired, hot-dip galvanized, repainted and re-erected. It is the oldest structure on the campus and was marked by a Texas Historical Marker in 1988. It was listed for its local significance in education and communications.","period_of_significance":"1909-1957","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Not in use as a broadcast tower; restored in 2001 by dismantling, galvanizing, repainting and re-erecting it.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.788101-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/9727/40972706/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/08000756.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000756/ee11c091ad-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000756/ee11c091ad-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Michael Reed","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marconi_Tower-Port_Arthur_Texas_by_Michael_Reed_fastturtles.org_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Reed</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marconi_Tower-Port_Arthur_Texas_by_Michael_Reed_fastturtles.org_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972706","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002675"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/jefferson-county/marconi-tower-at-port-arthur-college-08000756/"}