Soon, Fort Gordon’s Signal Towers will be gone.
For 54 years the Signal Towers’ complex, anchored by a 10-story office building, has been the epicenter of Fort Gordon as the headquarters for the post’s commander and home of the Signal Museum, a large theater and adjacent classroom buildings. The tower was the most recognized identifying landmark on post.
In November 2021, Army officials emptied the tower and museum and dispersed the high-ranking soldiers and government employees who had worked there to other offices on post. The museum’s collection was shipped to government warehouses and other museums.
“I’m sorry to see it go,” said Col. James Turinetti IV, the commandant of the U.S. Army Signal School. “But it’s not worth keeping at the expense of losing the modernization effort.”
That modernization will cost taxpayers an estimated $930 million over the next 11 years, said Joe Roberts, Fort Gordon’s transformation construction program manager.
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Congress has already approved $250 million to begin new construction of the planned four buildings that will anchor the new Cyber Center of Excellence campus. In addition, Congress approved $75 million to begin modernizing eight other buildings and the first $6 million to pay for demolition, Roberts said.
The Army has not asked Congress for the remaining $599 million. Those funds, if approved, will be spread out over the next 11 years of the construction project, scheduled to be complete in 2033, Roberts said.
In April, demolition crews will remove hazardous materials from the 10-story building. Because new construction has already begun for two new buildings near the Signal Tower, there will be no implosion of the 10-story building, Roberts said. Instead, crews will dismantle it with jackhammers and wrecking balls and haul off the rubble.
“The picks and the dump trucks start at the end of June,” Roberts said.
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In addition to the four new buildings, eight buildings will be modernized and crews will demolish 10, Roberts said. The end result will be a college campus like space with modern classrooms with raised floors, robust communications wiring and electricity and powerful heating and air-conditioning, which is a must when working with large computer servers and other heat-generating communications gear.
On Thursday, officials began planning for an April 22 decommissioning ceremony of the Signal Towers and expect numerous generals and other officials to be on post for a meeting and for the ceremony.
Steven Rauch, the US Army Signal Corp branch historian, said from his perspective replacing buildings is not a big part of Signal history.
“It’s just a building where people sat and did stuff…the Signal people here might have some nostalgia,” Rauch said. “But my branch has 58,000 soldiers. There’s 58,000 people out there and what they are doing everyday is making Signal history.”
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
