Marconi National Historic Site of Canada

The Marconi site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1939 because:

• it is the site of the first exchange of radio messages across the Atlantic, an event of national historic significance;
• it commemorates the efforts and accomplishments of Guglielmo Marconi in the field of wireless communications.

The heritage value of the Marconi National Historic Site of Canada lies in its historical association with the work of Guglielmo Marconi as illustrated by the surviving cultural landscape. This value resides in the setting and disposition of the site and in the archaeological remains of Marconi’s activity contained within the site.

Guglielmo Marconi used this site as his first commercial research and transmission facility during the years 1902-1904 before moving his headquarters to a new location. He received and sent the first exchange of radio messages across the Atlantic at this location. The station constructed in 1902 consisted of four towers 64 metres high, set in a square-shaped 64 metre square piece of land, which together supported an antenna of copper wires in the shape of an inverted pyramid. An operating room and powerhouse were constructed in the middle of the square with a residence for senior staff at the south end of the site. These facilities were dismantled and moved to a larger site between Glace Bay and Port Morien, in 1904.