Landmark Tower Company

The Landmark Tower Company was based out of Fort Worth, Texas and founded by Henry “Hank” McGinnis. The company was known for designing and building a type of radio tower known by the same name.[1] McGinnis, who had previous experience building electric transmission line towers, evidently came up with the unigue design while scribbling a Christian symbol of a fish on a napkin.[2]

Star Tower, the tallest Landmark tower to be built
Hughes Memorial Tower, the tallest structure in Washington DC
Another view of the Hughes Memorial Tower
another example of the landmark tower design as seen from underneath

Tower design

The prototypical Landmark tower, also known as an Adelphon tower, is a tripod in shape with three legs that rise to meet each other about a third of the way up. The legs taper down from larger footings to a thinner middle and then expand again to the point where they meet. The outer cords continue all the way up to the top of the tower in one swoop, but the inner three loop around into each other, creating a central ovoid and voided core. Aside from its unique appearance, the Landmark tower design has several advantages compared to the typical free standing lattice tower, with less wind resistance and a reduced amount of steel required for construction.[3]

List of Landmark towers

The most well known example is the Star Tower, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The individual base leg columns were erected by crane, while the upper sections of the tower were built using a Sikorsky S-64 helicopter.[4] Numerous other Landmark towers can found across the United States, including the Mesquite Tower in Mesquite, Texas, the Hughes Memorial Tower in Washington, D.C., and, at a smaller scale, WPXR-TV's analog antenna on Poor Mountain in Virginia, and another atop the Energy Plaza skyscraper in downtown Dallas, used by TXU Energy for its communications needs. None are known to have been built outside of the United States. The Landmark Tower Company went bankrupt after its owner died in 2002.[5]

TowerYearCountryTownHeight mHeight ftRemarks
Star Tower 1991 USA Cincinnati, Ohio 291 m 954 ft Tallest Landmark Tower ever built, assembled by helicopter
Hughes Memorial Tower 1989 USA Washington, DC 232 m 761 ft Tallest structure in Washington DC
WCCV TV Tower 1991 USA Utuado, Puerto Rico 167 m 548 ft Tallest freestanding structure in Puerto Rico
WLLY Tower[6][7] 1995[8] USA Mangonia Park, Florida 158.2 m 519 ft
Mesquite Tower 1990 USA Mesquite, Texas 155.3 m 509.5 ft
Cumulus Media Tower[9][10] <2002 USA Shreveport, Louisiana 152 m 499 ft
Tower at 3551 J.R. Lynch Street (Extension)[11] <1996 USA Jackson, Mississippi 152 m 499 ft
Telecourier Communications Tower[12] 1989 USA Bloomington, Illinois 152 m 418 ft
WPXR TV Tower[13][14][15][16] <1996 USA Roanoke County, Virginia 74.5 m 244 ft Poor Mountain Tower removed by 2017
Energy Plaza ? USA Dallas, Texas 33 m 108 ft

See also

References
  1. https://obits.dallasnews.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?n=henry-j-mcginnis&pid=522028
  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/soaring-761-feet-this-radio-and-tv-tower-on-georgia-avenue-nw-is-the-citys-tallest/2014/05/24/a28e9006-e216-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html
  3. https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/ohio-transmission-tower-as-object-of-beauty_o
  4. http://j-hawkins.com/startowercopter.html
  5. http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Wireless%20Tower%20News
  6. https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProASRLookup.php?sASR=1031315&tabSearchType=ASR+Search
  7. https://radio-locator.com/info/WLLY-FM
  8. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/soaring-761-feet-this-radio-and-tv-tower-on-georgia-avenue-nw-is-the-citys-tallest/2014/05/24/a28e9006-e216-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html
  9. http://worldradiomap.com/us-la/shreveport
  10. https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProASRLookup.php?sASR=1209322&tabSearchType=ASR+Search
  11. https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProASRLookup.php?sASR=1209875&tabSearchType=ASR+Search
  12. https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProASRLookup.php?sASR=1008865&tabSearchType=ASR+Search
  13. https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProASRLookup.php?sASR=1008865&tabSearchType=ASR+Search
  14. https://www.fybush.com/sites/2008/site-081031.html
  15. https://www.fybush.com/site-030703.html
  16. https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WPXR
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