New Jersey's Fort Monmouth falls silent

Storied history remains in wake of congressionally mandated closure

Its fate sealed by Congress in 2005, the drawn-out process of closing New Jersey's Fort Monmouth comes to an official close today, writing the final chapter in the facility's near-century of contributions to the advancement of communications technology.

From an Associated Press story:

The work done at the sprawling base near the Jersey shore led to communications advances including the development of FM radio, radar, and the ability to bounce signals off the moon to prove the feasibility of extraterrestrial radio communication. It launched the first radio-equipped weather balloon, and hosted hundreds of message-bearing courier pigeons that served in the two world wars. ...

But the fort's time is up. On Thursday, after 94 years of helping warriors communicate with each other while keeping tabs on the enemy, Fort Monmouth is closing, the victim of congressional budget cutting. Most of its thousands of jobs have been transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

Here's one man's personal tale of what the closure means to him.

And here's a story about what the future holds for the fort property.

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