Joe Palaia Park, formerly known as Deal Test Site, is a local park. Deal Test Site? It’s in a town called Deal, fine, but what were they testing?
Western Electric purchased a farm in 1919. After WWI, AT&T used the site for wireless experiments. In the 1930s, Bell Labs developed microwave radio systems for long distance phone calls (a system which was eventually replaced by fiber optics). And in 1953 the site was leased to the U.S. Army Signal Corps for tracking satellites (including the Russian Sputnik I and Sputnik II).
According to Wikipedia, when AT&T was doing their ship-to-shore wireless testing, they erected five big radio towers, which were used to broadcast speech and music for a range of 1,000 miles. These are a few of those towers.
So basically, these towers are representitive of all the communications testing that was going on here back in the day.
Monmouth County Daily Photo 
January 10, 2007 at 1:11 pm
My great aunt worked for Bell Labs and used to commute down here every day from the Bronx. She used to work in their downtown Manhattan labs (which I believe became the basis for the naming of the Manhattan Project).
I take it tho that the U.S. Army Signal Corps was not responsible for Sputnik….
January 10, 2007 at 1:12 pm
The place was popular in the 1950s, Eisenhower used to vacation here.
January 11, 2007 at 1:43 am
Well, the Russians were responsible for Sputnik, but the Signal Corps was responsible for tracking it. To my understanding.
The place is ALWAYS popular. Because it’s MONMOUTH COUNTY and New Jersey kicks butt.
January 11, 2007 at 4:49 pm
i love electricity pylons, strangely. you have inspired a future post i think jc!
January 11, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I’m an inspiration! My existence is validated now.
January 12, 2007 at 9:22 pm
don’t get to cocky. validation typically only comes after you buy something…and then it’s only to avoid being fined. what a world!
also, Sputnik 1 didn’t need tracking. all it did was beep. beep. beep. wait for it, beep. as soon as it was launched, american radio stations picked the signal up and broadcast it. it was nothing but a little noisemaker. Leave it to the Ruskies to have a partay without the hamantaschen. sputnik 2 was hopefully a differnt case, but i have no idea about that.