On December 23, 1900, Reginald Fessenden made the first wireless transmission of human speech between two sets of 50-foot masts erected along the shore of Cobb Island. The above message was immediately received by his assistant Alfred Thiessen. Intelligible speech had been transmitted by electromagnetic waves for the first time.

Fessenden worked from the large summer home of Philadelphia businessman George Vickers that had been built after he acquired the entire island in 1889. Cobb Island was remote for the secrecy but manageable by steamboats from Washington, D.C.

The incoming station was at the Very Cottage, the only other building on the island in 1900.

(Text box with image of Reginald Fessenden.)
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, the inventor of wireless voice communications, the pioneer of radio transmissions.

(Text box with image of structure.)
Vickers' House. Site of the first Wireless Radio Voice Transmission.

(Text box)
"Hello. One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? if it is, telegraph back and let me know."

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Show me all markers in:  Cobb Island, MD  |  Charles County  |  20625  |  Maryland  |  United States of America

Milestone in Radio History: December 23, 1900
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