The Bradford or "BF" Tower was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad circa 1929 at the important site of Bradford Junction, replacing an earlier wooden tower to its west. From this building, operators controlled the movement of every train, aligned track switches, set trackside signals, and relayed messages to the crews in the locomotive and caboose of passing trains. The tower originally housed a desk, telegraph equipment, and the railroad clock, while its core contained many steel throw-arms known as Armstrong levers, which were hand-thrown and connected track switches and signals by pipes throughout the junction area. The operator telegraphed other outlying towers and dispatching centers in Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, and Logansport, Indiana. Railroad telephones appeared during the late 1920s and radios just after World War II. The tower closed on January 3, 1984, and it stands as an example of the once-common railroad interlocking tower found along railroads throughout Ohio and the United States.