F I R S TP R E V699NEXTLAST

Marconi Memorial, Telegraph Hill
At the bottom of Lombard Street, before it winds up Telegraph Hill's to Coit Tower, sits this monument to Guglielmo Marconi. Erected in 1939 the stone bench pays tribute to the inventor of the wireless telegraph. The inscription in Latin reads 'Outstripping the lightning, the voice races through the empty sky'. Marconi came to San Francisco in 1913 to build one of the largest wireless stations in the world for Pacific communication. Two sister stations were built in Manila and Honolulu. Marconi also envisioned two-way wireless communication sending video images, but the technology of his day was not advanced enough to complete his vision. Ironically that invention, the television, would be invented in San Francisco decades later.
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