The landmark National-Register-Listed Tower Life Building was built in 1929 as the centerpiece of an elegant development featuring more skyscrapers and retail space planned to be completed over a period of years in the l930s. The Great Depression cancelled those plans, but the Tower Life building was finished and has always been an instantly-recognizable landmark for San Antonio.
In 1929, the tower was topped-out with a tall flagpole, which was designated an NGS Benchmark. That flagpole was removed in 1952 to accommodate a broadcast mast for the city's second TV station, KEYL-TV, Channel 5 and its sister radio station KABC-AM 680. KEYL-TV and KABC began broadcasting from the Tower Life Building in 1953. KENS-TV and the radio station (then known as KKYX-680) stopped broadcasting from the Tower Building in 2008. The Tower Building antenna mast was removed in 2010.
From the National Register Nomination form: (
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"The Smith-Young Tower bears a colorful history. It has served as a mooring mast for a blimp, a performance site for a duo of accomplished aerialists, as headquarters of the Third U.S. Army, and as a transmission tower for a television station. In the 1950s the San Antonio Transit Company owned the building and it was known as the Transit Tower. The Tower Life Insurance Company has owned the building since the 1960s and locals since refer to it as the Tower Life Building."
In 1954 the stations were sold and their calls were changed to KGBS-TV and KGBS-AM on March 1. New FCC rules that limited medial ownership resulted in a second sale in the fall of 1954. Both KGBS-TV and KGBS-AM were sold to the local print newspaper, the San Antonio Express News, which changed the station's call signs to KENS-TV and KENS-AM on 1 Nov 1954. Source: (
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From the NGS Datasheet for NGS Benchmark AY1869, San Antonio Transit Tower TV Mast: (
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"AY1869 DESIGNATION - SAN ANTONIO TRANSIT TWR TV MST
AY1869 PID - AY1869
AY1869 STATE/COUNTY- TX/BEXAR
AY1869 USGS QUAD - SAN ANTONIO EAST (1985)
AY1869
AY1869 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL
AY1869 ___________________________________________________________________
AY1869* NAD 83(1993)- 29 25 22.31768(N) 098 29 29.01247(W) ADJUSTED
AY1869* NAVD 88 -
AY1869 ___________________________________________________________________
AY1869
AY1869_MARKER: 62 = FLAGPOLE
AY1869
AY1869 HISTORY - Date Condition Recov. By
AY1869 HISTORY - 1943 FIRST OBSERVED CGS
AY1869 HISTORY - 1949 GOOD CGS
AY1869 HISTORY - 1952 GOOD AMS
AY1869 HISTORY - 1953 GOOD CGS
AY1869 HISTORY - 1956 GOOD CGS
AY1869 HISTORY - 19950411 GOOD USPSQD
AY1869
AY1869 STATION DESCRIPTION
AY1869
AY1869''DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1943 (FBQ)
AY1869''STATION IS LOCATED IN THE BUSINESS DISTRICT OF SAN ANTONIO,
AY1869''300 FEET S OF MARKET STREET, 20 FEET E OF ST. MARYS STREET,
AY1869''AND 300 FEET W OF VILLITA STREET.
AY1869''
AY1869''THE TRANSIT TOWER BUILDING IS CONSTRUCTED OF CONCRETE AND
AY1869''HAS A GREEN ROOF. ON THE ROOF THERE IS A SMALL BLACK DOME
AY1869''WHICH SUPPORTS THE FLAGPOLE. THE BUILDING WAS ERECTED IN 1928
AY1869''AND THE TOP OF THE FLAGPOLE IS 484 FEET ABOVE THE SURFACE OF
AY1869''THE GROUND.
AY1869''
AY1869''THE POINT LOCATED WAS THE FLAGPOLE CENTERED AT THE TOP OF THE
AY1869''DOME.
AY1869
AY1869 STATION RECOVERY (1949)
AY1869
AY1869''RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1949 (WIB)
AY1869''THIS FLAGPOLE HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED BY A TV TOWER. THE
AY1869''BUILDING SUPERINTENDANT AND THE BUILDING MANAGER MADE INDEPENDENT
AY1869''STATEMENTS THAT THIS NEW TV TOWER IS LOCATED AND CENTERED
AY1869''DIRECTLY OVER THE OLD FLAGPOLE POSITION.
AY1869
AY1869 STATION RECOVERY (1952)
AY1869
AY1869''RECOVERY NOTE BY US ARMY MAP SERVICE (NOW DMA) 1952
AY1869''STATION WAS RECOVERED AS DESCRIBED IN 1949, WHICH
AY1869''STATE AS FOLLOWS--
AY1869''
AY1869''THIS FLAGPOLE HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED BY A TV TOWER. THE
AY1869''BUILDING SUPERINTENDANT AND THE BUILDING MANAGER MADE INDEPENDENT
AY1869''STATEMENTS THAT THIS NEW TV TOWER IS LOCATED AND CENTERED
AY1869''DIRECTLY OVER THE OLD FLAGPOLE POSITION.
AY1869
AY1869 STATION RECOVERY (1953)
AY1869
AY1869''RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1953 (CTH)
AY1869''THE STATION WAS RECOVERED AS DESCRIBED BY W.I.B. IN 1949.
AY1869''THE TV MAST NOW OPERATES AS KEYL CHANNEL FIVE.
AY1869''
AY1869''THE 1949 DESCRIPTION IS ADEQUATE.
AY1869
AY1869 STATION RECOVERY (1956)
AY1869
AY1869''RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1956 (BC)
AY1869''FLAGPOLE AT TOP OF OF TRANSIT TOWER HAS BEEN REMOVED AND
AY1869''REPLACED BY A RADIO TOWER. RESIDENTS AND OTHER PEOPLE SAY
AY1869''THE RADIO MAST OCCUPIES THE EXACT SAME SPOT AS THE FLAGPOLE
AY1869''DID.
AY1869
AY1869 STATION RECOVERY (1995)
AY1869
AY1869''RECOVERY NOTE BY US POWER SQUADRON 1995
AY1869''RECOVERED IN GOOD CONDITION."