Messages from the first practical demonstration of wireless telegraph were sent from this site on September 30, 1899 by famous Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi.
Marconi had been invited to America by Gordon Bennett Jr., the owner of the New York Herald Newspaper, to report on the America's Cup sailboat race using his wireless telegraph. An antenna mast was erected on top of the north Twin Lights tower.
The America's Cup race was, however, preempted by a naval review organized by President [Theodore] Roosevelt, to celebrate the victory of Commodore George Dewey's fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay. Marconi's first wireless transmissions in America were sent to report on the progress of Commodore Dewey's fleet.
On October 3, the same wireless apparatus was used to receive reports on the America's Cup race between Shamrock and the Columbia, which took place in the ocean just off the tip of Sandy Hook.
Marconi maintained a wireless station at Twin Lights for a short period of time before deciding that other locations along the United States coastline would provide better reception for his wireless equipment.
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