Long dismantled, overgrown and for the most part forgotten, the former site of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph station at one time represented the cutting edge of wireless communication.

Inventor, businessman and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi is credited with developing the technology that paved the way for radio waves to be broadcast across long distances at the beginning of the 20th century.

One hundred years ago, Marion’s Marconi Wireless Telegraph station was built to handle all transatlantic radio traffic, communicating directly with another high-powered wireless plant in Norway.

According to author Calvin Trowbridge, the Marion station helped fulfill Marconi’s desire to build a “wireless girdle across the Earth.”

On Oct. 3, Trowbridge presented information from his book “Marconi: Father of Wireless, Grandfather of the Cell Phone: The Story of the Race to Control Long-Distance Wireless” before a crowd in the Marion Music Hall.

Prior to the Marion event, Trowbridge spoke at a centennial celebration in California where Marconi built wireless stations in West Marin.

The Sippican Historical Society invited Trowbridge to speak as the society and the Sippican Lands Trust held two events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the station’s construction.

The second event featured a tour of the property on Saturday led by Dick Evans, a lands trust steward. Read more about that event here.

Trowbridge offered insight on Marconi’s role in the global race that took place amongst nations vying to dominate and control his wireless technology.

As the one who pioneered wireless telegraphy, Marconi was at the forefront of its application for business and governments. He in turn became known internationally, but that didn't deter him from his work.

Reading from newspaper accounts of the time, Trowbridge quoted a reporter who wrote, “His growing celebrity status did not seduce him.”

Straightforward and unassuming were also words used to describe Marconi. However, Trowbridge said Marconi possessed a shrewd acumen for business. His feats in science and business placed him as one of the most important figures of our time.

“Thomas Edison didn’t achieve what Marconi did,” Trowbridge said. “If he had a modern day peer the closest person might be Steve Jobs.”

The Marion station didn’t stay under the Marconi company’s control for long. In 1920, the Radio Corporation of America acquired the station. Trowbridge said the U.S. government backed the deal after realizing the importance of wireless communication in the wake of World War I.

According to Trowbridge, the government wanted the stations operated by a company based in the United States.

After that, the U.S. military operated the site at various times before it was shut down in 1960.