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Locations of Former NIKE MISSILE SITES (text)

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.
Maine

For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
L-13 Caswell
L-31 Limestone
AADCP Loring AFB
L-58 Caribou
L-85 Connor
Trip report to these sites May 2004 by Scott Murdock
Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
L-13 Caswell C -
[(Murdock, S) May 2004, GPS 47-02-08, 67-49-06, was Army property from 1955 until about 1967. The property was gated, but we observed two radar towers from the public road. ]
[{Larsen, D} located on west side of Route 1A, private owner (owner lives on premises w/o phone or electricity, buildings intact, radar platforms still stand, 10/97]
[{Larsen, D} site vacant (property up for sale by realtor), buildings intact, radar platforms still stand, 9/99]

L -
[{Larsen, D} July 2022, Site has been sold to a new private owner. Signs posted. Buildings remain intact. Some brush clearing and mowing is evident. ]
[(Murdock, S) GPS 47-01-43, 67-48-36, - May 2004 - looked like it was occupied and maintained. We had a look at two buildings by the road, and glanced at the launcher area beyond a locked gate. ]
[{Larsen, D} located on west side of Route 1A, private owner (buildings intact, unfriendly dogs on premises, 10/97)]

Housing -
[(Murdock, S) May 2004, GPS 47-01-25, 67-48-24. We found the units unoccupied and boarded-up. Acquisition began in 1955, and in 1966 the Army transferred the 16 units to the Air Force. They soldiered on as Loring Family Housing Annex No. 4, NRCY, until 1994, when they were declared excess, then disposed of in 1999. ]

L-31 Limestone
Loring AFB, from David Dauphinee
C - (private owner)
[(Murdock, S) May 2004 - GPS 46-55-37, 67-47-47, served the Army from 1956 to 1962. On our approach, it appeared heavily modified and used for residential purposes. A radar tower was visible, surrounded by trees. ]
[{Larsen, D} located on north side of Route 229, private owner (buildings modified as dwellings, except for pump house, engine generator and interconnecting corridor demolished, 8/92)]

L -
[{Larsen, D} July 2022, Site has been sold to a new private owner. Buildings remain intact. ]
[{Larsen, D} located on south side of Route 229, private owner (buildings intact, site used as auto body shop, 10/97)] [{Larsen, D} private owner (buildings intact, site used as residence and auto body shop, property for sale through realtor, 9/99)]
[(Murdock, S) May 2004 - GPS 46-55-04, 67-47-32.,

Housing -
[(Murdock, S) May 2004 - GPS 46-54-31, 67-49-49. Housing at the other three Loring Nike sites was laid out in a neat line of 16 houses, very easy to identify in an aerial photo. For some reason, L-31 was different. The 16 houses are in the town of Limestone, grouped around the T-intersection of Trafton and Lane, at 46-54-31, 67-49-49. Acquired in 1956, this housing area was transferred from the Army to the Air Force in 1966. It became Loring Family Housing Annex No. 5, NRCZ. SAC declared this annex excess in 1980, but changed it back to active status the following year. It was again declared excess in 1994, and disposed of in 1999. The homes were occupied and in a good state of repair. ]

AADCP Loring Air Force Base Loring Air Force Base
L-58 Caribou unknown
C - [(Murdock, S) GPS 46-53-10, 67-58-16 ]
[{Roehrig, R} The IFC & administrative area, ... were on the same property. It was posted that the FAA took over the site after 1966 but I am pretty sure it was actually a comm center for Loring AFB. Part of the GCCS (Global Command & Control System). Sometime in the late 80's or early 90's they also abandonded it. I was there around 1992 and the buildings were empty and some had signs they contained hazardous material (I assume someone discovered some Asbestos). (Nov. 2002) ]
[{Foster, M} Albair Rd, disposition unknown]
[{Larsen, D} located on hilltop east of Route 1, (buildings intact except for engine generator and interconnecting corridor demolished, operating FAA radar built on site, 10/97)] [{Larsen, D} gated access to site closed, FAA ASR still operating at site, 9/99)]

L -[(Murdock, S) GPS 46-53-02, 68-00-33 ]
[{Foster, M} US Route 1, disposition unknown]
[{Larsen, D} located on east side of Route 1, VFW post (buildings intact, pits sealed, 10/97)]

Housing -
[(Murdock, S) May 2004 - GPS 46-52-21, 67-59-40 1966, the 16-unit housing area was transferred from the Army to the Air Force, and assigned to Loring AFB as Loring Family Housing Annex No. 2, NRCW. It was inactivated in Jan 1980, excessed in Feb 1980, and then changed back to active status in May 1981. It was again declared excess in 1994, and disposed of in 1997. I noted the units were occupied and in nice condition.]

L-85 Connor C - [{Larsen, D} located on hilltop east of Route 1, private owner (buildings intact, 10/97)
[(Murdock, S) GPS 47-00-08, 68-00-03 - May 2004 - 1961. It was excessed to GSA, who conveyed it to Blotner Trailer Sales in 1962. Well, the Air Force decided it needed this land, and in 1963 the U.S. government repurchased this property. Louis Blotner Radar Bomb Scoring Site was assigned as a detached installation to Loring AFB in 1963. According to Corps of Engineers documents, when the property was repurchased a promise was made to name the site after Louis R. Blotner. It was common in W.W.II to name leased auxiliary fields for the landowner, but this practice was uncommon after the war. And it is very unusual to find two separate Air Force installations named for the same person. Mr. Blotner clearly had some clout! (Actually, it was Louis Blotner's son Sam who negotiated the naming. Check out the web site of the "Four Grand" for this fascinating -- and entertaining -- story!) In 1983, the site was redesignated Louis Blotner Communications Facility Site No. 1, NSNK, after being transferred from SAC to AFSPC. In 1987 it was redesignated Louis Blotner Satellite Tracking Site 1. This site was disposed of in 1993. We found it gated and locked; one building was marked "DET 2, 1000 TH SOG," and I believe that stands for Detachment 2, 1000th Satellite Operations Group.]

L - [{Larsen, D} located on east side of Route 1, private owner (E.M. Barracks operated as store 8/92, store closed, pits sealed, other buildings intact, 10/97)]
[(Murdock, S) GPS 47-00-30, 68-01-07 - May 2004 - this property was excessed to the General Services Administration (GSA) in 1961. GSA conveyed it to a private owner, Blotner Trailer Sales, in 1962 (Hmm... there's that name again). Recognizing the gate and a building from the highway, we found open access to the launcher site, and noted that the missile magazines were capped with concrete. ]

H - [{Larsen, D} located on west side of Route 1 across from launch area, buildings intact and boarded up, 10/97)]
[(Murdock, S) GPS 47-00-41, 68-01-11 ] - May 2004 - the 16-unit housing area at was transferred to the Air Force and became Loring Family Housing Annex No. 3, NRCX. It was inactivated and declared excess in 1980; but SAC returned it to active status in 1981. It was again declared excess in 1994, and then disposed of in 1997. We found the units to be unoccupied and boarded-up, or pickled. ]

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.
Maryland

For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
  • 19th Group Suitland,
  • 35th Aty Ft. Mead,
  • 36 AAA Bn. Ft. Meade
  • Missile Master . Ft. Meade
  • BA-03 Phoenix/Sweet Air
  • BA-09 Fork
  • BA-14 HHB Edgewood Arsenal
  • BA-18 Edgewood Arsenal
  • BA-30,31 Chestertown
  • BA-43 Jacobsville
  • BA-79 Granite
  • BA-92 Cronhardt
  • W-13T Fort George Meade (temporary)
  • W-13 DC Fort George Meade
  • W-25 Davidsonville
  • W-26 Annapolis /Skidmore/ Bay Bridge
  • W-35 Croom/Marlboro
  • W-36 Brandywine /Naylor
  • W-44 Mattawoman /Waldorf /La Plata
  • W-45 Accokeek
  • W-54 Pomonkey
  • W-92 Rockville
  • W-93 Laytonsville/ Derwood
  • W-94 Gaithersburg
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    . . Web Articles
    MISSILE MASTER NEWS RELEASE -1 Spotted by Thomas Page
    MISSILE MASTER Air Defense System Spotted by Thomas Page
    for more info about Maryland sites goto Baltimore-Washington Defense by Bill Evans.

    W-25: The Davidsonville Site and Maryland Air Defense, 1950-1974 (10 MB .pdf). Also an update on an accident report The One That Got Away (3.5 MB .pdf) all by Merle T. Cole

    BA-03 Phoenix/Sweet Air C - Sunnybrook Rd, N of Merrymans Mill ((O) private owner)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) Gated, secured, overgrown with no evidence of a buildings or radar towers visible from the road. ]

    L - 3101 Paper Mill Rd ((I)Paper Mill Recreation Center; Jacksonville Senior Center; Baltimore County Fire Department training site)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) The launch area is intact with the magazine padlocked and secure. The building that served as the senior center has recently been razed. It is now a gravel and dirt parking lot. The launch area itself serves several purposes from county maintenance and training to use as a FEMA training center. The people that work here are friendly, interested and hospitable. I was allowed to walk around and take pictures and spent close to an hour visiting with them discussing the history of the site. The had an aerial photograph of the site c. 1960 and wanted to know if there were more pictures of the base in action anywhere. They do not have keys to the padlocked magazines. FEMA uses one of them for close quarters training. They have built maze like structures inside one and occasionally fill it with smoke for training purposes. One of the guys noted the colors of the hatches and doors were not correct and said we'll have to get that right next time we paint them. Cool! ]
    [{Thompson, T} The Phoenix site has a Barracks north of the launch area, it is presently the Jacksonville Senior Center. The Launch area itself is still fenced in, some standing buildings, some newer trailer offices, it is used for/by the Baltimore County Fire Department Rescue Academy. The IFC which was on Sunnybrook road is now an over grown junglelike fenced in area, no sign that there were ever any buildings on it, or roadways. There is no indication of ownership.]

    BA-09 Fork C - end of Hutchensreuter Rd, S of MD 147 ((O) private owner)
    [{Murdock, S}By matching the plan against Streets Atlas 6.0 mapping software, I can offer the following coordinates:
    BA-09C is at 39-26-55, 76-27-41
    The control site is 1/2 mile to the west of the launcher site, and is visible in your satellite photo as an outlined rectangle (probably bushes growing along the fenceline). It is at the end of Hutschenreuter Road.]

    L - Stockdale Rd, S of MD 147 ((I) private owner)
    [{Hathaway, C} ... C- and L- locations for the site are reversed. I drove up and down the hill on Hutchensreuter Rd. many, many times on my way to and from the IFC area.]
    [{Murdock, S}By matching the plan against Streets Atlas 6.0 mapping software, I can offer the following coordinates:

    BA-09L is at 39-26-51, 76-26-51 ]
    [{Hankel, C} April 2005 On 3/7/05 I attempted to investigate the remnants of this site, which is located on the northeast border of Big Gunpowder Falls State Park in Perry Hall, Maryland. I hiked through the park to locations where the Stockton Road and Mohr Road portions of the site might be visible from, as I wanted to use the public right of way at all times and avoid trespassing on private property. I was unable to see any evidence of either site from within the Park. I drove down Stockton Road and found that one of the former Nike areas can still be seen from the roadway. It is on private property belonging to the John Mace's Stockton Farm. From the road a rusty, overgrown fence is visible surrounding a lot which is being used for storing trailers, vehicles, etc. However, there is also a single story, long building with a brick chimney in good condition, and a guard hut the same color and construction as the building. I was unable to ascertain if this was -09L or -09C. I also went as far as I could on Mohr Road. At the end of the paved section of road are several houses on private driveways, but a disused gravel track continues into a heavily wooded area. No radar towers, or their remains, were visible from the roadway or the Park. This was a much as I could see without trespassing or going off the marked Park trails.
    Carl Hankel - Towson, MD
    BA-14 Army Chemical Center
    Edgewood Arsenal
    Aberdeen Proving Ground
    Headquarters only, no equipment?
    BA-18
    (double)
    Edgewood Arsenal C - Aberdeen Proving Ground/Edgewood Arsenal ((P) MDArNG Operations Activity Center
    [{Gajewski, J} (3/12) Easy to find, a few miles off of I-95. Don't even have to go onto Aberdeen. Nothing much left, just a few old buildings at the IFC. HHC grounds have a few new or painted buildings used by the MD National Guard. }

    L - (MDArNG)
    [{Gajewski, J} (3/12) The launch area is pretty much a hazmat area. Talked to a guy working there and told me after they pumped out about 2 1/2 feet of water from each pit found a flume running underground of all our discarded waste (oil, grease, fluids, etc.) Pumping all that out now. After they got the water out they dropped the doors in and poured concrete in to seal the pits permanantly. Found the concrete slab for the kennel where I kept my dog. Half of the berm area is eroded. Nothing much more to see but it was still worth the drive seeing the site after 45 years. }
    [{Deutsch, E} I have been looking for lat and long but am unable to discover at this time. I do have the road names and directions. Edgewood had/has two entrances each at the end of a road that crosses US 40 that runs approximately parallel to I 95. The west, secondary gate [may not be open now] is at the south end of MD 155 Magnolia RD [south of US 40, Mountain Rd north of US 40]. The old main gate was at the south end of MD 24 ** [Edgewood Rd, now called MD 755 south of US 40] It passed under a RR bridge [was Pennsylvania RR, now Amtrack] on the way to the main gate. MD 24 was relocated and now enters the post West of the old gate. Immediately south of the RR bridge and before the gate is Fairview Point RD. that almost parallels the RR track going east. A mile or so from 755 it crosses Belardi Rd [named for Bn Co of the 54th Msl BN who was killed in an auto accident about 1956. At the SW intersection of the roads is the Battery buildings of C/54 which became C/4/1. Right on Belardi leads to and ends at the gate of the IFC area. Left on Belardi leads to ends in the launcher area.]

    BA-30,31
    (double)
    Chestertown /Tolchester - web site - spotted by Tony Tannucilli
    also see Nike site on YouTube

    C - E of Tolchester Beach, MD 21 ((P) Kent County Agricultural Center)
    [{Tannucilli, T} (July 2007) ... was fortunate enough that the old IFC area was open and was able to get inside. The area is now the property of the Kent County 4-H Club and they were having their annual fair.
    [{Murdock, S} 39-12-49 76-13-54

    L - SE of Tolchester Beach, MD 445 ((P) Kent County)
    [{Tannucilli, T} (Jan 08) - "Baltimore District dismantles Cold War missile site" - (July 2007) I had to go down to the launcher area, where I spent all of my time as an MP, but it was locked. It belongs to the local road maintenance authority. I could see that the barracks buildings were still standing as where two of the guard shacks.
    [{Murdock, S} 39-12-14 76-14-13

    BA-43 Jacobsville C - 9034 Fort Smallwood Rd ((P) Anne Arundel County Schools Maint & Opns)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... is still an Anne Arundel county schools maintenance facility. It is gated and secured. Many original buildings remain. Some have been modernized and some have not. Didn't notice any towers from my vantage point outside the fence. No one around to ask to come in. Due to the active nature and valuable equipment stored here I advise against sneaking in without some kind of permission. ]

    L - Old Nike Site Rd, S of Fort Smallwood Rd ((unk) presumably aboandoned; road blocked)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... is located at the end of Old Nike Site Rd. where the entrance is gated but not always so secure. Easy to walk through the loosely chained gate. It is also a county maintenance facility and the launch area is covered with a variety of construction materials, assorted junk and old county vehicles. I was unable to get close enough to determine the status of the magazine doors and hatches but did note they are all still there and accessible. I'll wait to get permission before coming on board here too.

    BA-79
    (double)
    Granite

    Excellent newspaper article about starting restoration of the Launcher area.

    C - Hernwood Rd, 0.5 N of Woodstock Rd ((I) Abonded; former MDArNG 70th Gen Spt Bn)
    [{Hankel, C}(rec. April 2005) 39? 20" 714' x 76? 51" 335' for the main gate. Concrete slabs and some wooden curb stops remain, but all buildings have been removed and there is no visible evidence of a fallout shelter as some sites had. The only remaining inner perimeter vertical structures are a fenced square that might have been a basketball court and two small green electrical boxes of some kind protruding from the ground near the hillock that I speculate once held the IFC?s radar towers. The only real indication that this was a defense site are the faded red over white signs that say "U S Property - No Tresspassing" ]
    [{Vaughn, T} (rec. Aug 99)The IFC area was incredible! I've never seen one in better condition. ... On the back side of the site I found an open gate so I entered. The site is in great condition (for being closed since 1974). Glass in the windows, tile still on the floor and even fluorescent tubes still in the light fixtures. All the radar towers where still in place including the Hi-Par tower. This IFC had the extra towers that a double site required. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.The guard hut was most unusual, being built from stone. It could be a police replacement but I think it's original since it looks like every Nike site guard hut I've ever seen, just made of different material. Also there was a building number carved into the stone which I don't think the police people would of done. ]

    L - Hernwood Rd, 1.2 N of Woodstock Rd ((P)Maryland Police & Correctional Training Commissions
    [{Freman, Paul} (rec. Nov 2019) The MD Civil Air Patrol invited me to visit the Granite MD Nike Launch Site, which they now occupy. They?ve pumped out 3 of the underground Nike magazines - Pics on my BA-79 web site
    [{Henderson, John} (rec. Jan 2019) In 2015, the MD Civil Air Patrol was granted use of BA-79 to use as their Headquarters. The site is in really good shape considering its been closed for many years. We have recently started to clear out the brush around the magazines and have also pumped water out of 2 of them (6 total) to start working towards a restoration. We have been working to paint structures and repair buildings on the site again to work to preserve the history.
         ... We are looking for any resources possible to assist us in getting our site restored. ... One of the major missions of the Civil Air Patrol is Aerospace Education so what better way than to have true history at your fingertips than to have our members work to restore our site.
        We have a facebook page "https://www.facebook.com/groups/219699235388622/" ...BA-79 Nike Missile Base Research and Preservation - MD Wing CAP... ]
    [{Hankel, C}(rec. April 2005) 39? 21" 273' x 76? 51" 27' for the main gate. Condition: apparently excellent! still being used by the Maryland Police & Correctional Training Commission. Thoroughly fenced in a way that would have made the battery crew proud and clearly marked with a new roadside sign. From what could be seen from the road, the original building shapes are thoroughly intact, with cinder block walls, a new coat of paint, and new-looking roof shingles. Since the gate is on the crest of a hill you can?t see the double-site launch pads from the road. Someone in an unmarked police sedan was guarding the gate, which was open on one side. The site was crawling with State Troopers in marked and unmarked cars and given the current security climate I doubt that they would have liked someone to roll onto their property and make an unannounced visit. However, if someone were to call and make an appointment perhaps they?d be willing to let an amateur historian take a tour. Given the narrow, hilly, tree-lined 2 lane roads leading to -79C and -79L, hauling large loads of 1950's radar equipment and Nike missiles would seem to have required a steady hand. ]
    [{Vaughn, T}(rec. Aug 99) I pulled into the parking lot and asked a guy ... He opened the gate for us and left. Since this was a double site there are six magazines. I found one magazine in each battery had an escape hatch and entrance doors that could be opened. I went down the first stairway and found that about 6 inches of water covered the floor. I could see very little as not much light was coming in from the elevator doors. Oh what I would of gave for a flash light! I was afraid to ask for one as that may of been pushing my luck as the place was filled with cops. The other magazine had about 8 inches of water.

    BA-92 Cronhardt C-Greenspring Rd, N of Broadway Rd (O) USAR; SSG Isadore R. Jachman USAR Center - - 2071 USARF Schoole, 326th Maint Bn, 214 MI Co
    - picture of IFC via Thomas Page, - local copy
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... is now the Isador Jachman USAR center. It is securely gated and locked. Not much of the original Nike base is left as the reserve center itself is relatively new construction. Not much left to see. ]
    [{Thompson, T}(rec. Aug 99) 12100 Greenspring Ave.]

    L-2515 Baublitz Rd ((P) Worthington Valley Swim Club)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... was located at the end of Rolling Acres Way off Ridge Rd. in Reisterstown, MD. Today the launch area is under the front yards of 3 homes at the end of the road. A planter in the shape of the elevator covers one of the old elevators as grass doesn't grow there very well. Not much to see here either.

    The launch site is not located at the Worthington Valley Swim Club on Baublitz Rd. as indicated in "Rings of Steel". I walked around the abandoned swim club and was also convinced it was an abandoned/obliterated NIke site (the shape of the property, pool and 1950-60's era construction are convincing), but a review of aerial photography from the 1960's showed it was a swim club back then too. ]
    [{Binder, M}(rec. Nov 2010) Doyle wins the Eagle Eye prize.

    The owner of the house with the prominent "elevator" feature told me that the developer of the area did a less-than-adequate job filling and grading the area over the old magazines. The results included subsidence over the elevators and poor grass growth over previous asphalt paving. This homeowner had an extensive planter put in to mask his problem. While it was being put in, he could actually walk a little below grade into areas of the old magazine.

    The locations of the other two elevators, in the front yards of houses to the east, also show up on overhead photos and are visible on site, but those houses were built on slightly higher elevations and the subsidence is not as great a problem. Poor grass growth in selected formerly paved areas of the exclusion zone are also visible in photos and on site.

    Nice going, Doyle. And, Tom, BA 92 was Ajax only, so, no nuclear-tipped missiles for these front yards. ]
    [{Thompson, T}(rec. Aug 99) ... no Nike buildings standing there.]

    W-13[T] Fort George Meade Fort George Meade is about 17 miles N.E. Washington D.C.
    Location unknown - First operational Nike site, 30 May 1954
    [{Morgan, M} Fort Meade's roughly halfway between Washington DC and Baltimore, east of I-95 and alongside I-295; next to Maryland City. Topozone of Ft. Mead Area ]

    "First operational Ajax was W-13T on the west side of Fort Meade, May 54;
    - first operational PERMANENT site, well now, that I haven't found an answer for. MK" from Mark Morgan November 2002, co-author "Rings of Supersonic Steel"
    (further info from Mark Morgan (November 28, 2002))
    Gentlemen: I went out to the location of the Fort Meade tactical site this morning, fortunately the weather cooperated and I was able to get several digital and slide shots; will forward the digitals when I get back to WA on Sunday.

    My escort was Rick Potvin of the USF&WS. The place he took me to first was the highest location on Fort Meade, now the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He didn't recognize the name "Hill 85" but said he assumed the IFC radars were up here. The field is completely overgrown, no evidence of any type of temporary construction. The site's lat/longs are: 390458/0764822, which is about .3 miles south of the lat/longs published earlier.

    He then took me to the probable location of the launchers; we passed a buried bunker at 390454/0764729 and ended up at two concrete pads, still intact and aligned north-northeast. The lat/long is 390466/0764718.

    It shows the concrete just fine; each one's just about big enough to handle two Ajaxes on rails with launchers. The easterly pad has - surprise! - a crew access door, vertical, similar to what I've seen at permanent sites. The door's at the extreme southeast corner of the pad and welded/rusted shut. The presumed battery site is exactly one mile east of the probable IFC. I'll do some more digging when I get home and will get photos out to everyone but it would appear these two locations are the former W-13T.

    W-13 DC Fort George Meade MD 175 & MD 198 ( The former AADCP is occupied be the fort's Director of Information Services. )
    More details at Radomes.org
    W-25 Davidsonville
    W-25: The Davidsonville Site and Maryland Air Defense, 1950-1974 (10 MB) Also an update on an accident report The One That Got Away (.html), 3.5 MB .pdf, all by Merle T. Cole (local copies)

    C - Anne Bridge Rd ((I) recreational area)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) used by Ann Arundel Co and a park and recreation area. Several of the buildings are occupied by various clubs and organizations of public interest. The area is gated and is irregularly locked or open depending on what's going on that day. Seems like mostly a weekend and evening type of place. When the gates open you are able to walk around without specific permission but you want to be sure not to get locked in by accident. The nearby housing area has be demolished and only the gated and overgrown road and some foundations remain. ]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-54-13, 76-39-08 ] community use area, 1997]

    L - Elmer F Hager Ln and Anne Bridge Rd ((I) Anne Arundel County Police Training Academy)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) now the Ann Arundel Co Police Training Academy. Most of the buildings are intact and in use and the area is gated and locked when not occupied. I've stopped in on several occasions to ask permission but no one I talked to considered themselves authorized to allow it. Calls to the number I've been given by the interested, friendly and polite officers I've spoken with go unanswered. I understand one magazine is a gym and the other is a small arms range and the upper area is used for firearms and vehicle training. ]
    - Launcher Area -
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-54-10, 76-38-28 ] Anne Arundel Co Police Academy, 1997]

    H -
    - Administration Area -
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-54-23, 76-39-05 ] (this later became the US Air Force's Davidsonville Family Housing Annex) AF housing, inactive, 1997]
    [{Conklin, M}... our academy is site W-25 (L). Both of the magazines are being used for training; one as a gym and the other as a firearms training area. Almost all of the buildings and fences are still intact and are used for training and admin areas.]

    W-26 Annapolis /Skidmore
    / Bay Bridge

    C - N of US 50, end of Broad Neck ((P) USAR Center)
    [{Seigfried, W} (Aug 2012) partially intact and is still in us as a USAR center. It is gated and locked. It can be viewed from outside the perimeter fence from Broadneck Park and the nearby church parking lot. No visible towers but the buildings are in god shape and in use. The grounds appear to be well maintained. ]

    L - N of US 50, between Bay Head Rd & Yorktown Rd ((P) US Government)
    [{Seigfried, W} (Aug 2012) is now and an Ann Arundel County park. Bay Head Park has many sports fields and many of the original military buildings have been recently restored and are in use. Only one magazine is visible and is surrounded by a fence which is gated and locked. The hatches are chained and locked and some kind of cover is placed over the elevator doors. It appears to be used for storage or some other maintenance type purpose. No other magazines are visible and the rest of the area is covered with an asphalt parking lot. ]

    W-35 Croom/Marlboro [{Torrance, H} (Apr 2017) The county school board still owns and maintains the properties. The grounds are kept from being a public nuisance and that is about it. Both the IFC and Launch are secured with locks on the gates.
         It is a shame, this site would make an excellent candidate for a museum and I may suggest that to the proper authorities, and there are many history exhibits and sites in the area, this would be a wonderful addition.

    C - Mt. Calvert Rd, 0.9 E of MD 382 ((P) Croom Vocational High School)
    [{Torrance, H} (Apr 2017) Croom Vocational School is long closed, but the county school board still owns and maintains the properties.
         The IFC would be easily accessible due to the condition of the gate, but there is only about a vehicle length of driveway before the gate, and with it being directly on Mt. Calvert Road, a vehicle parked there would be a ready indicator that someone was trespassing on the site (yes it's posted). Likewise there is no shoulder on the road to park away and walk back and gain entry. Looking in the gate, however, I would say that the condition is pretty much unchanged from other reports.
    [{Seigfried, W} (Aug 2012) probably one of the most intact sites in the DC area. The IFC area is the site of the recently abandoned Croom Vocational School. It is gated and locked. Many of the buildings remain and are starting to show signs of dilapidation. ]

    L - end of Mt. Calvert Rd ((I) Croom Vocational High School)
    [{Torrance, H} (Apr 2017) The Launch site is located at the end of Duvall Road off Mt. Calvert Road. It too is gated and quite securely. The old military sinage is still in place on the gate and if you look closely you can read the words contact security before entry to this site, my guess is that this dates to after the site was closed but before it was turned over to the school board. I was able to gain entry to Launch by going down what appears to be an old perimeter road, and finding a tree fall that had taken down the fence. Of course you could climb the fence right next to the gate and there are indications that has been done many times before, however, again there are residences near by, and from my experience as a youth in this area, the local residents are not afraid to call the police if they see people where they don't belong. It was easier to appear to be a nature lover going for a walk (Patuxent River Park is nearby) As others have noted this is a remote location so be careful if you go on site, and take a cell phone. The school board is using the grounds of Launch to store old temporary classroom buildings so much of the launch pad area is covered with these, and so too the parking for the control area, but the buildings are all intact and from the hum I could hear, I presume have power. ]
    [{Seigfried, W} (Aug 2012) was also part of the Croom Vocational School and is gated and locked. Several original buildings still exist and there are several temporary buildings on the launch site itself. A trail to the right, as you face the main entrance gate, follows the perimeter fenceline. About a 1/4 mile down a convenient hole in the fence provides access to the refueling area and the nearby launch area. Both magazines are dry and the elevators are in the up position. One magazine has some original artwork of an Ajax missile in the panel room and safey instruction handwritten in magic marker on the wall. Even after 50 years the names of several crewmembers are still taped on the wall where they stored their personal equipment. I've noticed on two separate visits that some soil sampling and environmental testing is taking place. The area is being maintained to a level that keeps it from becoming overgrown but not up to the standard of a regularly used facility. If someone is around working ask them for permission to enter or come back at a different time when no one is around. Use discretion. This is a remote site and it could be days or weeks before someone would show up to rescue an injured solo urban explorer. Take proper precautions and be safe. ]
    [{Seigfried, W} (July 2012) flashlight tour on YouTube ]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-46-27 076-44-38 Croom Vocational High School, 1997]

    H -
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-46-30 076-44-15 U.S. Govt hsg, partial use, 1997]

    W-36 Brandywine /Naylor C - North Keys Rd, 2 W of MD 382 ((unk) apparently abandoned)
    [{Torrance, H} (Apr 2017) The IFC (Edgemede school) has been repurposed to a convalescent center for firefighters, the IAFF owns the site now and has made a beautiful campus of it. The original buildings are readily identifiable, even with the Lodge look that has been applied to the facility. It is ungated and you can easily drive around it on new pavement, all the original walkways and driveways appear to have been removed.
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... located on Edgemeade Rd. off Molly Berry Rd. in Upper Marlboro. It is very much intact with the entire complex converted to a campus style school. "Edgemeade" was a school for troubled youths. It is now not in use and is up for sale. No problem walking around the property ( as a prospective buyer?) which is open with the buildings locked and secure. Many of the buildings have been refurbished but some still retain their Nike era character. ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=38-42-37, 76-46-16 ]

    L - North Keys Rd, 1 W of MD 382 ((P) private owner; abandoned)
    [{Torrance, H} (Apr 2017) The Launch area remains in tact and as described by the previous visitors, there is no fence on the left side adjacent to a driveway, however the property is HEAVILY posted both NO PARKING AND NO TRESPASSING, in addition there is a sign noting that both STATE and FEDERAL law prohibit removing artifacts from this area. So I would presume that the owner has had major issues with trespassers! I will attempt to contact the owner and see if they are still willing to let people on the grounds. ]
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... located on Candy Hill Rd. off Molly Berry Rd. and is surrounded by many high end homes. It is also very much intact and is privately owned by Brinkley's machine shop. One of the buildings seems to be used as a guest house and the other buildings and actual launch area used as a storage area. The owner is willing to give tours of the property so be sure to respect his property rights and arrange a visit rather than sneaking in. ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=38-42-26, 76-45-39 ]

    W-44 Mattawoman /Waldorf
    /La Plata
    C - 5 N Waldorf, Country Ln ((P) abandoned)
    [{Feldmann, C} (Aug 2014) I found out that the IFC area is in the hands of the La Plata School board. It?s interesting to see how all the dirt/gravel roads are now asphalt. There are now houses along Gwynn Road,?.very expensive ones. ]
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... is now the Melwood Recreation Center (also known as the Melwood Horticultural Training Center) located at 12705 Country Ln., Waldorf, MD. The perimeter fence remains as well as a concrete pad in the back. The buildings look like new construction but some may be remodeled from original construction. Gates are open but be sure to check in with someone before walking around. ]

    L - 6 N Waldorf, Country Ln ((P) American Indian Cultural Center /Maryland Indian Heritage Society of Waldorf)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) A little further down Country Ln., the Launch area is now leased to the Maryland Indian Heritage Society and is very much intact. The entrance is gated but often open if someone is working there. The open areas are used for Pow-wows and other recreational activities. I stopped in and asked permission to visit the exclusion area but was told to come back later each time as they felt it was not currently presentable. It is gated but not securely locked. Finally I showed up for a pow -wow and walked around in the early morning before anyone official arrived. Just another pow-wow participant going for a morning walk. The kennels are intact and used for storage. The hatches to the magazines are padlocked and the area is used for storing a variety of junk waiting to be hauled off. I understand the magazines are often flooded but they do make an effort to pump them out from time to time. The refueling area is also intact. The building is used for storage of maintenance equipment and several vehicles and trailers in various states of disrepair are stored here. I suspect it's the junky nature that makes the people that work there not want to have guests back there. To be fair, every time I've shown up a particular individual in a gray F250 has been working hard, cutting grass and doing general maintenance on the facility. It's a pretty massive job but the areas they keep up seem safe and presentable. ]

    W-45 Accokeek C - 4 W Waldorf, S side MD 228 ((I) Naval Research Lab Field Site Lower Waldorf
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) W-45 Accokeek is in a state of change. The IFC area has been totally plowed over with only large piles of broken concrete to mark where the foundations of the buildings used to be. The radar towers are all gone. The main entrance is still gated to keep vehicles out but local residents use the area to walk dogs or cut through to other nearby homes. ]
    [{Crossley, G.} March 2008 - both large antennas at the W-45 Accokeek Nike site have been disassembled. Was lucky enough to visit this site when both antennas were still intact. They were amazing. ]
    [{Page, T} Feb 2005 (in response to JWfam1234@aol.com ) The large dish antennas at the former W-45 Nike-missile IFC site were probably satellite uplink and/or downlink comm. I have no answers for your other questions ... although I suppose just about anything can be sold on eBay. Thanks for the update re NRL selling the property. ]

    L - 4 W Waldorf, N side MD 228 ((I) Naval Research Lab Waldorf Annex)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) gated and secured. I called the real estate agent on the signs to ask permission to walk around and he was kind enough to meet me there as he was interested in learning something about the site too. I was able to give him a pretty good tour. The elevators and hatches are all concreted over and the buildings are in a state of disrepair. Roofs falling in and doors and windows broken. The area has been sold to two separate owners. The front building is slated to become a high end pet spa and the rear area is slated to become an animal hospital. Still no new constructions as of a few months ago when I was last there. ]

    W-54 Pomonkey C - Bumpy Oak Rd ((I) Charles County Alternative School)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) ... is gated and locked with many warning signs about trespassing and guard dogs. There are at least two radar towers visible from outside the gate. The facility seems unoccupied but appears well maintained. If you take the dirt road left of the main entrance that follows the perimeter fence there is a large hole near the radar tower. I imagine if there were actually dogs around they would have greeted me at the main gate and they also would know about this hole. Very quiet at the Pamonkey IFC. ]

    L - Gwynn Rd ((P) Naval Research Lab - Pamonkey Facility; Naval Center for Space Technology)
    [{Siegfried, W} (Aug 2012) I was unable to go on board the launch facility and no one was around to talk with when I stopped by. Nothing to add to the previous report about the launch facility except that it remains gated and secured with an electronic keypad. The grounds look well maintained and in use. Since this is an active government facility it's not somewhere to sneak into. ]
    [{Schmidt, M}The site is now known as the Pomonkey Naval Research Laboratory. It is fenced in, and entrance to the site requires prior announcement (through the Navy). As you climb a slight hill, you immediately notice a extremely large (approximately 100 ft. in diameter) radar dish housed upon a two story building. You can actually see the upper portion of this radar dish from the road that passes by the site. On a number of occasions, I was able to see this radar dish suddenly rotate to a different position.

    Driving a bit further leads you to the former launch pad area. This facility appears to be almost entirely intact. A small, sphere-like radar dome is located here, as well as two apparent silos and surface buildings. Limited information received from onsite personnel and some historic data from the site indicates that very little has been done at this facility since its decommissioning. ]

    W-92 Rockville C - 10901 Darnestown Rd ((I) US Consumer Products Safety Commission Engineering Laboratory)
    [{Wong, Richard} ( May 2018 ) http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/government/city-projects/former-cpsc-site. No new progress on the site since the buildings were torn down and removed over a year ago. Gate is still locked and perimeter fence is still in place. ]
    [{Newton, Brent} ( Dec 2016 ) The City of Gaithersburg now owns it and soon will tear it down and create a park: http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/leisure/parks-and-fields/cpsc-site ]
    [{Siegfried, W} ( Feb 2013 ) The main entrance to the Rockville IFC is located off Darnestown Rd. between Treworthy Rd.and Argosy Dr.. The main gate is a couple hundred yards in and has a handwritten sign indicating that the location has been vacated by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. The location is gated, secured and the property is very well kept. The perimeter of the IFC is almost totally surrounded by homes so there is no way to look in except at the main entrance and the end of Marsh Ln. off of Midsummer Dr.. From those vantage points I noticed a combination of Nike era as well as relatively newer construction, all in pristine condition. This is not an area to sneak in to explore. ]
    [{Lisa, M}The grounds of the former Nike Radar site are well kept, and the original three buildings are in good shape and used as offices/laboratories. The radar tower is intact and still stands.]

    [{Evans, B}The 'radar tower' that still stands was for the LOPAR. The MTR, TTR, TRR towers are gone. The concrete footings for the HIPAR antenna/radome are there, but nothing else of that structure. The HIPAR building is there (but modified by CPSC), as are the generator building, the IFC control-van-corridor building, and even the chapel. And the guard shack, although CPSC told me they had had that rebuilt. And the 'tennis court', about which I added an entry in the SF88 guestbook this morning. In other words the entire IFC, hill and all, looks very much as it did in 1967, with a few CPSC changes, and of course minus all but one of the towers.]

    L - 770 Muddy Branch Rd ((unk) US Government)
    [{Binder, Michael} ( Mar 2023 ) That site is owned by NIST -- National Institute for Standards and Technology. They used it for various research purposes -- solar cells (they raised panels up from a magazine on a working elevator), fire research, autonomous robot development (a simulated destroyed building was set up in one of the magazines).
    It would have been a good one for preservation. ]
    [{Page, Thomas} ( Mar 2023 ) "Looks like it's to be sold". Thomas sent two screen shots, including an overhead view of the launcher area. ]
    [{Wong, Richard} ( Feb 2020 ) Thought you?d find amusing a former NIKE site being categorized as a ?high value asset!? - see starting page A-57 ]
    [{Garver, J} December 2010 - From what I've been told the elevators are still in place. The site is littered with solar research buildings and excess equipment. http://www.wisdomwingsandwar.com/war_related/coldwar/W-92-12-21-2010/Nike_W-92.html. I'm going to check with our museum and see if I can get some pics from when it was operational. ]
    [{Kramp, K} September 2005 - I worked for NIST for several years in the mid 90's and got to visit the site on several occasions including going down into one of the magazines. We were no longer actively using the site, but at one point they were doing solar research and had erected several solar "houses" for testing. At the time I was there we were using the magazine for storage of some data collection equipment. Very cool experience to actually be able to go down into one of these sites. The elevator actually still worked and was used at times to move the larger equipment. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it work. Still it was great to see a part of Cold War history up close. Not many people get to.
    [{Lisa, M}This site is next door to a super market, very near the grounds of NIST (Nat'l Institute for Standards and Technology). The grounds appear to be in good shape. There is a large GI fence around the site, makes me wonder if NIST holds the keys. The buildings are intact, some broken windows etc. ]

    [{Herbert, E} NIST does hold the keys to W92. They actually do fire research on the site. A least one silo is in pretty good shape and is used as a maintenance shop. It is actually owned by the Army Corps of Engineers who has responsibility and liability for the site. There is a fair amount of soil and groundwater contamination on the site that has to be rectified before the property can be sold. An attempt to give the property to the State of Maryland did not transpire because of the environmental problems.]

    W-93 Laytonsville/ ?Derwood? Olney C - 21515 Zion Rd ((O) American Foundation for Autistic Children)
    [{Seigfried, W} (August 2012) No significant changes to the info previously reported. The IFC area has an original guard shack at the entrance. Some of the buildings may be original but remodeled on the exterior. Can't say for sure. The school gate is open so you can drive on board but you can see everything there is to see by staying in your car and driving the circle. ]

    L - 5321 Riggs Rd ((P) MDArNG; unit unknown
    [{Seigfried, W} (August 2012) ... is still in a highly secure FEMA facility. The guard was very friendly and asked me to wait while called someone about my request to visit the facility. Someone, also very friendly, came out and asked for my phone number so he could pass it on to the proper person. I got the polite, unspoken message of "don't call us, we'll call you". ]
    [{Tyler, T} (July 2012) I did visit and tour the former Launch Battery site in about 1986, when it was a FEMA Federal Regional Center, and most recently drove by it in 1999, when the sign at the gate indicated it was the (FEMA) Federal Support Center.
    - In regards to Mr. Koch's comments from 2002:
    1. He claims the Army moved out in 1968 and the site was converted into the bunker shortly afterward. My information is that W-93 was a Nike-Ajax site only, never converted to Hercules, and thus deactivated by the Army in 1960. I know that by the mid-1960s, not 1968 at Koch suggests, the federal Office of Emergency Planning (OEP, a precursor to FEMA) had already constructed their Region 2 facility there in Olney.
    2. Koch writes "The [Nike] Generator Building is still in use."
    I do not know if it is still in use to house generators, but as of my 1986 tour of the facility they had their emergency power generator plant inside the underground bunker. Doesn't make much sense to have a hardened, underground bunker with an above-ground, non-hardened emergency power supply... ]
    [{Koch, M} Dec. 2002 - First of all, Laytonsville and Derwood aren't anywhere near each other. Although they're not in different parts of the state they're not close enough to possibly have anything to do with each other. The site is located in Olney. I know it's sometimes common to use the largest nearby town as an actual location instead of the nearest town but Olney is not only closer it's also larger. (two miles away, not ten or fifteen)

    I do have a small amount of information about the facility and know of a possible point of contact who can probably answer questions if someone is wanting to do any more research. The Nike site was decommissioned in 1968. The Federal Government built an underground Civil Defense facility on the grounds shortly afterward. The facility is currently owned and operated by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The events of 9/11 have placed new importance on the facility and it is now manned and guarded 24 hours a day. The internal activities are now classified.
    Two of the original buildings still remain. The assembly building still stands and is used as a warehouse. The generator building is still in use. When the underground facility was constructed it nearly covered the launchers but they ended up being left intact. About two years ago the launchers will dismantled in order to make a training area for search and rescue teams. They were filled with chunks of broken concrete and steel to create mazes that would be similar to a fallen buildings. ]

    A - 5115 Riggs Rd ((I) MDArNG; B/1/115th Infantry)
    [{Binder, M} - Dec 2006 - Almost all of the former Nike buildings for this MD ArNG site have been torn down (just one original building looks to be standing -- a garage, perhaps, in the NE part of the property).

    The former occupants, Bravo Co., 1st Bn, 115th Inf. Rgt have moved over to the White Oak armory to become part of the "transformed" 58th Brigade Special Troops Bn.
    A new armory is set to be built at the former W 93A site, to be the home of the 224th Medical Co., I was told by a MD ArNG recruiter.
    W-94 Gaithersburg C - Strawberry Knoll and Cross County, S of Snouffer School Rd ((O) residential area)
    [{Binder, M} (March 2019) Washingtonian Golf Course / Nike Missile Site / Muddy Branch Road / Belward Farm - 1973, local copy
    [{Seigfried, W} (August 2012) is now "Nike Park" which is part of the Montgomery Co. park system. It is located at 8500 Snouffer's School Rd. web page ]

    L - 8791 Snouffer School Rd ((P) MGEN Benjamin L Humton Memorial USAR Center; Launchers abandoned)
    [{Binder, Michael} (May 2023) The former launch site owned by NIST is going to be developed: Recommendation For 380 Multifamily Residential Units at Former Nike Missile Site in Gaithersburg To Be Made on May 3 - The MoCo Show ]
    [{Binder, Michael} (March 2020) Recent aerial photos indicate that W 94L has been completely eradicated, replaced with new development. I will try to confirm the identities of the new occupants of the site. ]
    [{Seigfried, W} (January 2015) Mary Shewan sent pictures of the launcher area being demolished.
    [{Seigfried, W} (August 2012) subject of numerous articles over the past few years that deal with the site's future development and it's recent history as a teenage hangout. web page. The hatches and stairway doors have all been welded shut but there is evidence of recent tampering to open them up again. The best place to park is off Ivyberry Ln. and take the public walking trail left or counter clockwise around the perimeter fence. Stay with the perimeter fence and you'll find many openings which lead to the nearby launch area. Typical graffiti and trash are found in the magazines. How did I know that? : ) Due to the recent press it's particularly important to be sensitive to the neighbors whose homes back up the to the walking trail and perimeter fence. This is a fairly popular walking trail so anyone who seems to be just out for a quiet walk will not get any special notice and will not be a nuisance to them. ]
    [{Stoner, J} (Nov 2010) Two of the magazines are open. It?s in sad shape, but it is still very interesting. ]
    - Sarvesh Ramprakash, pleading the 5th, sent this flickr link Aug 2010
    [{R, Marc}August 2005 In the late 80s I had been assigned to a Army Reserve unit that used the Control site for meetings (it has since been torn down and developed) and then a new center that was next to the launch site. I was fortunate in that one of the unit members had been assigned to the site when it was active. He took us on a tour and we went into the pits....pretty trashed. Anyhow, Mongomery County Maryland has a great GIS web site that has high resolution color imagery (Aerial photos) of the launch site that are pretty good. The web site is http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/gis/ImageViewer/grid5.asp?aYear=2002 Click on grid 5 (Laytonsville), then click on grid 227NW08. The site is in the upper left corner of the photo. Drill down and you get a pretty good color overhead of the 3 pits, the elevator doors and asphalt & cement driveways and roads. There are photos that go back to 1951. The earliest photos with the launch site is 1970. ]

    A -

    go to top


    .
    Massachusetts

    For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
  • B-03 Reading
  • B-05 Danvers
  • B-15 Beverly
  • B-17 Nahant
  • B-21DC Fort Banks, Ft. Heath, Winthrop
  • B-36 Ft. Duvall/ Hull
  • B-37 Quincy
  • B-38 Hingham/ Cohasset
  • B-55 Blue Hills
  • B-63 Needham
  • B-73 Lincoln
  • B-84 Burlington
  • B-85 Bedford
  • PR-19 Rehoboth
  • PR-29 Swansea
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    B-03 Reading C - Bear Hill (abandoned)[{Foster, M}Condominiums]

    L - 1.3 NE, Haverhill St. ((O)skating rink)[{Foster, M} was PD firing range]
    [{Foster, M}H On Bear Hill]

    B-05 Danvers C - 1.6 NW, North St. ((P)1LT J.C. Ferra USAR Center; 468th Engineer Platoon)
    [{Foster, M} If you would like to see a real Hercules in the pit, go to:
    www.historicaerials.com
    Select Search Imagery by Lat/Long, type 42.6079 for Lat. and -70.9469 for Long.
    Now click on "1971 view". The doors of the eastern launcher are open and there is a Herc on the elevator.
    The if you wish to Zoom In, click that button and left click on the picture
    [{Foster, M}intact, now abandoned]
    [{McGrath, J}IFC is still an Army Reserve Center but has been empty since the last unit moved out in 1997. Probably EPA concerns are keeping the Army from getting rid of it.]
    [{Murdock, S} 42-35-19 70-56-43

    L - 2.5 NNW, US 1 (Salem and Beverly Water Districts) [{Foster, M}site intact]
    [{Foster, M}H - housing for the homeless]
    [{Murdock, S} 42-36-29 70-56-51

    B-15 Beverly [{Foster, M} Oct 21, 2016 - Newspaper article - Preparing to launch: Beverly Cold War missile site being studied for future walking tours
    Long term goal is a mini-Nike Park. Have collected t date: Hercules upper stage, Battery Control Van and period radar dish. Assembly Bldg, Generator bldg. operators shed and UDMH storage shed still stand and are in good condition. If anyone is aware of additional artifacts in the Northeast that might be available would be interested. ]

    C - vicinity Beverly (abandoned)
    [{Foster, M}Brimbal Hill drive, obliterated]
    [{Murdock, S} I verified this one, B-15C, from a site layout plan. The radars were in the cleared area just SE of what looks like a newer water tower. GPS=42-34-43, 70-52-35., ]

    L - vicinity Beverly (Salem and Beverly Water Districts
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=42-35-21 070-54-42, ]
    [{Foster, M}Beverly Airport, launchers intact, bouldings slated for demolition, 1960 Photos]
    [{Foster, M}H - housing for the homeless, Laurel St, Housing for US Coast Guard personnel]

    B-17 Nahant C - 1 SW, Lewis Beach ((O) park
    [{Larsen, D} located at Bailey's Hill, formerly Ft. Ruckman, now a town park (no Nike buildings remain)]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=42-25-09 70-55-46 ]

    L - 1 SE, Nahant Rd at East Point adjacent to Battery Murphy ((P) Northeastern University - Edwards Marine Science Center)
    [{Foster, M}now a park]
    [{Larsen, D} located at East Point, formerly East Point Military Reservation, now Northeastern University Edwards Marine Science Center/town park (modified EM Barracks and Missile Test & Assembly Building remain)]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=42-25-09 70-54-14 ]

    H - [{Foster, M}Castle Road, private homes]
    [{Larsen, D} believed to be owned by U.S. Coast Guard (homes remain occupied)]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=42-25-16 70-55-53 ]

    B-21DC Fort Banks
    [{Larsen, D} Ft. Heath,
    Winthrop]
    details at Radomes.org
    [{Larsen, D} ARADCOM deployed the AN/FSG-1/Missile Master Radar at Ft. Heath in Winthrop, MA with the site designation B-21H. This command was later deactivated to site PR-69 in Coventry, RI, where the initial radar installation was the AN/GSG-5 (V1)/BIRDIE.]
    B-36 Ft. Duvall/
    Hull
    Link to picture
    C - 3 NW Hingham ((O) condominiums) [{Foster, M}city park, council on aging]

    [{Larsen, D} located on Hog Island, formerly Ft. Duvall, now Spinnaker Island condominiums, connected to the mainland by a bridge (no Nike buildings remain).]
    [{McGrath, J}The IFC area was on Little Hog Island off Hull which is connected by causeway to the mainland. Fort Duvall was an old coast artillery post on Little Hog Island. Today the site is an upscale condo complex. The Launcher area was in North Weymouth across Hingham Bay from Hull and is today Webb State Park and the Weymouthport condo complex. Housing was not at Squantum NAS but at a local housing area that was only closed in the early 90s. Squantum is too long a drive from Duvall (unless you have a boat).]

    L - 1 E Hull; Hog Island ((O)) [{Foster, M}condominiums]
    [{Foster, M}Housing was at Squantum NAS]
    [
    {Larsen, D} located on Upper Neck, now Webb State Park/South Shore Association for Retarded Citizens (Mess Hall, EM Barracks and Missile Test & Assembly Building remain, pits buried but vents & ducts are visible).]

    B-37 Squantum/
    Quincy
    C - Long Island (American Legion post/day care center)
    [{Larsen, D} located in Squantum, now American Legion Post/ day care center (engine generator and interconnecting corridor demolished).]

    L - [{Foster, M}Long Island, City of Boston former Library Storage]
    [{Foster, M}Housing was a Squantom NAS]
    [{Larsen, D} located on Long Island, owned by city of Boston (EM Barracks remains, pits are sealed).]

    B-38 Cohasset/
    Hingham
    C - 1.5 SE Hingham, Leavitt St ((I)abandoned)
    [{Foster, M}Turkey Hill Road, intact, owned by a farmer]
    [{Larsen, D} located on Turkey Hill, now open space owned by Trustees of Reservations (all buildings removed except for interconnecting corridor).]
    [{McGrath, J} Since 1997 the IFC site on top of Turkey Hill has been a park (Turkey Hill Park) run by the Trustees of Reservations and owned by the two towns and the trustees. Only one small Nike-era building remains (to be converted into a visitor center in the future). Two FM radio towns have been erected on top of the hill in the last 5 years.]

    L - W Cohasset, Cushing HWY (highway maintenance facility) [{Foster, M}Crocker Lane]
    [{McGrath, J} The Launcher/Admin Area is intact off Crocker Lane on Scituate Hill in Cohasset and is used by a highway maintenance department.

    B-40 Quincy HQ - 15th Gp [{Larsen, D} was Battalion HQ site, located off Southern Artery near Black's Creek (buildings intact).]
    [{McGrath, J} Located in Merrymount Park, this former Group and BN headquarters site is intact and is now the municipal Koch Family Park and Recreation Complex.
    B-55 Blue Hills C - S Milton, Chickatabut Rd (educational center/summer camp)
    [{Larsen, David} Feb 14, 2019 - Today I was joined by Phoebe the Wonder Dog in climbing Chickatawbut Hill (el 517') in the nearby Blue Hills Reservation. The Chickatawbut Hill summit just happens to be the site of the B-55 IFC area. There is nothing left in the tactical area on the true summit (radar platforms, engine generator and interconnecting corridor are gone) but just below the remainder of the Nike buildings are in excellent condition. Admin, barracks and mess hall now serve as an Audubon environmental education center. The place is available for rental! "https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/blue-hills-trailside-museum/party-function-rentals/environmental-education-center
         There are a couple of other buildings not on the original plan. A review of aerials tells me the small one dates from the Nike era, but the large building with garage bay doors was built sometime after 1996. Far below the summit, the water tank has been supplemented by a new larger one at the same site and the pump house remains. The photo of 'trees' shows the road that led behind the Admin building up to where the Gen and ICC once stood. There is a bunch of solar panels up there now.]
    [{Foster, M} MDC, Intact]
    [{Larsen, D} located on Chickatawbut Hill in Quincy, owned by MDC, now MA Audubon education center (engine generator and interconnecting corridor demolished).]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 42-13-21 71-03-45 ]

    L - N Randolph, Billings St (Metropolitan District Commission; dump)
    [{Larsen, D} April 2020, What to do when the traditional family Easter dinner becomes a COVID-19 casualty? Visit a Nike site. In this case it was a short hike with son and dog to B-55L, an Ajax-only battery in Randolph, Massachusetts which is south of Boston.
         The state owns the property and there's not too much left to see there. It serves as a dumping site for whatever they decide they have no place else for. Right now, for instance, there's a couple of concrete block walled areas set up for contractors to dump sludge they are cleaning out of catch basins.
         Bulkheads and hatches at the three pits are covered with rocks and debris. Occasionally kids dig into one but all of the pits typically have water about a third of the way up the stairs anyway.
         All buildings survived for a time in advanced states of disrepair until the state hired a contractor to remove them and break up the foundations. It seems very strange to me that the cracked pieces of the slabs were left in place rather than buried or hauled away.
         The davit at the fueling area still stands and the transformer platform, sans transformers, is still in place between two utility poles. ... ]
    [{Larsen, D} Jan 2016, Still under control of Mass DCR, the site is used as a dumping area and not much else.
         Three pits for Ajax with elevators in raised position and mounds of earth and rubble place on or around them. Still, Val discovered one stairwell had been dug out enough for folks not too portly to squeeze through. Too bad we did not have a suitable light with us.
         Today's discovery was the demolition of the Missile Assembly and Generator Buildings. Oddly, the concrete rubble was left and spread over the buildings' footprints. Everything else there was removed but the kitchen sink.
         You can see both structures had deteriorated by viewing this link: http://binged.it/1mtEaVz
         The davit at the Acid Fueling Area still stands. The foundation of the acid storage shed can also be seen as well as twin utility poles with an empty transformer platform between them.
    [{Foster, M}High Street, MDC, demolished]
    [{Larsen, D} located in Randolph, owned by MDC (all buildings removed except for generator building).]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 42-12-01 71-04-21 ]
    [{Kodis, P} (July 2001( Under B-55 In Randolph MA it says Demolished! This is quite different from my visit there last week...Though used by the MDC as a dump theres more to this launcher location the Generator building is used a a garage for the MDC and has a anchor fence around it with electricity supplied..

    The warhead assemble building is intact and has door and is marked "No Tresspassing"...the acid storage shed is missing its roof but is still intact. The guard shack into the launcher area is there and the missle elevators have been covered with piles of dirt..the vent shaft have diamond steel welded over them and the entry areas are covered with a large stone or dirt.. The launch area though seems to have dropped 5 feet in the middle due to a cave in or all that dirt....
    Many of the phone poles and wires exist also....the access roads and roads to and from the missle warehead buiding are in tact along with some yellow paint... ]
    B-63 Needham C - 1.2 NW, Central Ave (Charles River Assoc. for Retarded Persons
    [{Kaltofen, M} GPS 42.16750 N 71.15251W ]

    L - 2.2 WSW, Pine st (Town of Needham)
    [{Plante, Ron} Feb 2020 - "Town was ready to take on the Soviets...almost"
    https://needham.wickedlocal.com/news/20200218/needham-history-town-was-ready-to-take-on-sovietsalmost
    This article has a map and seven photos:
    https://needham.wickedlocal.com/news/20200212/emotional-night-in-needham-for-nike-missile-site-hearing ]
    [{Larsen, D} May 2017 - There's now a dog park in addition to a community garden at the rear of the property where the launchers and magazines were. The dog park is probably less than two years old. Elsewhere on the site, you can still identify what was what by studying the pavement that remains. There are parking spaces across from the site of the admin bldg. A huge pile of wood chips sits where the missile assembly and test building used to be. You can follow the concrete strip all the way around and into the fueling berm. The far end of the berm has been closed off, I think because police had used it for a small arms range. ]
    [{Kaltofen, M} 42.16149 N, 71.16365 W ]
    [{Simpson, P} GPS 42.27318 N, 71.27351 W - front gate of site - intersection of Charles River St. and Pine St. Pine St is one-way. The site driveway (about 1/2 mile long) is off of Pine St, ... barracks and guard shack have been obliterated, as has the entire launch area. The only remains are those of the missile assembly building, which is now a pile of rubble and the semicircular earthworks.]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 42-16-26 71-16-23 ]

    B-73 Lincoln [{Sullivan,G} Nov. 2005 - The radar site for the Lincoln MA Nike site was off of Rt 117 and Lincoln Rd in Lincoln Ma. GPS 42 deg, 24 min, 23.96 sec N 71 deg, 19 min, 56.62 sec W Elevation 266 ft. It was on a hill that is actually a drumlin, ( Drumlin: an elongate or oval hill of glacial drift ) The site is south of the highway across from the area now called Drumlin farm. ]
    [{Foster, M}C - lincoln, S. Great Rd (Rt 117)Mass. Obliterated GPS 42-24-30N 71-19-56W ] (Mass. Audubon Society; Drumlin Farm)

    L - [{Foster, M}Wayland] Oxbow St. (Mass National Guard) GPS 42-24-33N 71-21-34W ]
    [{Devine, B} Aug 2015, overgrown with weeds, apparently buried and restored to nature. Very pretty park with tall pines around and a walking trail. Wonderful townhomes right to the gate. The barracks are now smaller ranch houses on what is called Launcher Way, with families, and cars in the driveways, some on jacks. ]
    [{Foster, M} H - Launcher Way] Drumlin Farm Education Center and Wildlife Center ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS= 42-24-35 71-21-37 ]

    B-84 Burlington [{MacDonald, James} August 2002, Here is the Nike site in Burlington MA it's just right of the white dot, a water tower its the rectangle building sitting out in a filed its the ops-HQ building. The small homes farther right is base housing to the lower right is a Northeastern University campus, the parking lot is built over the missile silos.
    [{Foster, M}C - End of Edgmere Road, Town of Burlington DPW, Intact]

    L - ((O) Northeastern Univ; parking lot)
    [{Foster, M}Northeastern Univ, EM Barracks is Univ. Library]
    [{2}H - Bedford St, Private Housing] ]

    B-85 Bedford C - 1.4 W Bedford ((O) apartments)
    [{Foster, M}Davis Road, private housing GPS 42-29-29N 71-18-13W]

    L - 1.7 NW, Carlisle Rd (Harvard Univ; zoological study facility)
    [{Foster, M}utilizing underground magazines GPS 42-30-28N 71-17-41W]

    PR-19 Rehoboth [{Larsen, D} (April 2016) The Admin building is, in fact, the Rehoboth Town Office.]

    C - Meadow Hill, off Francis (MAArNG/USAR Center)
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 41-52-43 71-12-59 ]
    [{Foster, M} (Dec 2018) Most bldgs still exist and have been redone over as MANG facilities (79th Troop Command). EM/Officers quartrees slated for demo as in poor condition.]

    L - off Peck, near Reynolds (Town of Rehoboth)
    [{Foster, M} (Dec 2018) Barracks now Town Hall, Assy Bldg and Gen bldg are town dog officer. Fueling area berms gone but concrete?mini role coaster? still exists along with base of acid hoist. Ball field on former magazines. Guard house and Admin bldg gone.]
    [{Larsen, D} (April 2016) The Missile Assembly & Test Building has morphed into an animal shelter. The Generator Building stands and its unclear to me if it has a current use. Ditto for the Water Pump House. The pits are covered over by ball fields although there's evidence of some stray concrete where you enter. (have pictures) ]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 41-53-04 71-11-59 ]

    H - [{Larsen, D} (April 2016) The old family housing area was off the access road and it's now used for picnics and other recreation. The homes themselves have been gone for more than 25 years.

    PR-29 Swansea C - W of Sharps Lot Rd, N of Marvel (private owner)
    [{Foster, M} (Dec 2018) Swansea Independent Baseball League. Ball field on top Gen bldg and Interconnecting corridor heavily modified as storage blogs Barracks and Admin blogs boarded up.
    [{John} Jan 2009, on the map is PR-29-ifc of what is tagged Nike Site rd. Note that one of the streets in the area is named Missle Loop. I have always thought it to be an odd name for a street. It is a small residential area. ]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 41-46-59 71-10-40 ]

    L - E of Sharps Lot Rd, between Baker & Marvel ( Anderson Motor Company)
    [{Foster, M} (Dec 2018) Iron Mountain Data Storage bldg built over one of the magazines (circa 1992). Guard shack and barracks blogs in very poor condition.]
    [{John} Jan 2009, This is the area now occupied by Iron Mountain. They list their address as Dighton. I believe this is on the Swansea town line, ...]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 41-47-29 71-09-52 ]

    A -
    [{Murdock, S}GPS= 41-47-04 71-10-18 ]

    David A. Larsen
    Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), owner of both B-55C and B-55L, has the shell of an Ajax missile in storage, hopefully for future interpretive display.
    go to top


    .
    Michigan

    For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
  • HHB 28th Arty Gp (SAFB) ?Detroit?
  • D-06 Utica
  • D-14 Selfridge AFB
  • D-16 Selfridge AFB
  • D-17 Algonac/Marine City
  • D-23 Detroit City Airport / Kercheval.
  • D-26 Ft Wayne/Detroit
  • D-51 NAS Grosse Isle.
  • D-54 Riverview/Wyandotte
  • D-57 Carleton/Newport
  • D-58 Carleton
  • D-61 Romulus/Dearborn
  • D-69 River Rouge Park
  • D-86 Franklin/Bingham
  • D-87 Commerce/Union Lake
  • D-97 Auburn Hts.
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    . . Map of Chicago-Milwaukee Radar Ring (88 K bytes) Cities in red
    [{Cocherell, H} text]
    . . Web Site covering area
    D-06 Utica web page
    [{Denja, M} (March 2008) New Historical Marker for D-06
    [{Sands, D} "located on Woodall Road." "The "Friends of River Bends Park" would like to create a historic site in the park location". Check with Dennis Sands, 6431 Mayfair Street, Shelby Twp, MI. 48317-3139 ]

    [{Siedzik, J} Pretty well preserved. The Barracks are still there. The Assembly building is there also, the missle loading rails are dissassembled and lying next to the Assembly building. The launch site is barren though. A piece of one of the missle lifters is still there in a pile of metal, but the hydraulic shaft was cut with something so it would never be used again. The HQ is now the park headquarters. The basketball court is still there also, but obviously in disrepair being thirty years old! ]

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-06C: 42-38.8N/83-03.5W
    The land is now open park land, and has an archery & trap & skeet ranges. This site isn't particularly high terrain relative to the rest of the area. ... The site has been obliterated, with just some foundations left, almost buried under grass & weeds. About 1/4 mile further down Woodall Road (the sites were all in between Woodall Rd & the Clinton --I hear it is polluted! ;) -- River). Is a fenced in section about an acre or two in size. Fencing looks old & is barbed-wire topped. There's a large old sheetmetal garage-like building in the middle of the compound, but nothing else. Not even a road going to it, though by walking around the compound, I did find part of an old sidewalk that led to it. ...
    D-06L: 42-39.1N/83-04.1
    A large, fenced-in compound still exists, and the fencing looks like it is from the Nike era. The land is mostly flat & grassy. No buildings, foundations, or other Nike Launch site 'signatures' at all. A quarter mile further down Woodall Road is the old entrance gate, and there are a series of 3 or 4 small wooden buildings which reminded me of dorms at a kid's summer camp. A sign at the locked-gate indicated that the property was owned by the school district. ]

    D-14 Selfridge AFB web page,
    web page, and added image, enlarged from Tom Page
    C - West Perimeter Rd, 5 NW south gate ((P) equipment storage) - (updated Jan 2013 as per Tom Page annotated view 111 KBytes, accepted for RSS corrections by Mark Berhow)

    L - South Perimeter Rd, 3 W south gate ((P) MIArNG vehicle storage)
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-14/16: I understand they're finally going to be torn down in the very near future. I made contact with the Selfridge ANGB Civil Engineer heading up the project, he referred me to the Selfridge Public Affairs Office to see it it'd be OK for me to make a visit & take some photos, etc. and the PAO hasn't bothered to contact me. ]

    A - *Shared Admin with D-16

    D-15DC Selfridge AFB web page
    South Perimeter Rd, - (I) Selfridge ANG, .. Selfridge Military Air Museum
    [{Zimnickas, J} As of June2001, all NIKE era bldgs at the ex 2nd ARADCOM HQ have been totally obliterated. ]
    More details at Radomes.org
    D-16 Selfridge AFB web page,
    web page, and added image, enlarged from Tom Page
    C - South Perimeter Rd, 1 E south gate ((P) equipment storage) - (updated Jan 2013 as per Tom Page annotated view 111 KBytes, accepted for RSS corrections by Mark Berhow)

    L - South Perimeter Rd, 0.5 W south gate ((P) boat/RV storage)
    [{Baumgarten, R} (May/05)The site is completely gone, how do I know ? I have lived across the Clinton River, about a half mile away, for 41 years. ]
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-14/16: I understand they're finally going to be torn down in the very near future. I made contact with the Selfridge ANGB Civil Engineer heading up the project, he referred me to the Selfridge Public Affairs Office to see it it'd be OK for me to make a visit & take some photos, etc. and the PAO hasn't bothered to contact me. ]
    [{Zimnickas, J} (June 2001) The missile pits for D-16 appear to still be intact, at least the ventilator hoods and escape hatches are there....but who knows for how long. ]

    A - *Shared Admin with D-14

    D-17 Algonac/Marine City - (35 air-miles (NE) of downtown Detroit. ) web page
    C - N side Shortcur Rd, W of Starville Rd
    [{Tyler, T} On the N side of Shortcut Road, about 1/3 mile E of Starville Road (info in R.O.S.S is slightly erroneous). It's 1.3 miles NNW of the very small community of Starville. Gate: 42-41.78N/082-34.57W Mostly intact! Sentry hut is still there, and it seemed to me (no Nike expert...) that pretty much all the old buildings -- Admin, Barracks, Mess, etc. were still standing. Most of the old cinderblock buildings had the windows removed -- not smashed out, but windows & frames completely removed, while one or two buildings (officer housing) still had windows & even curtains. ... I saw 4 or 5 RADAR platforms -- two were the corrugated aluminum 'box' type structures which if I understand correctly hid the big poured concrete masts ... and two or three smaller steel-pipe type masts. ... There is a house to the immediate W of the IFC. It's street address is 6680 Shortcut Road. ]
    [{Zimnickas, J} (July 2001) the IFC has been obliterated except for two bldgs, one of which appears to be the radar corridor. This land is now in the hands of a private owner who has built a home on the land. All fencing, radar towers, utility poles, guard shacks etc. are gone. Although the owner did keep the flagpole. ]

    L - S side Shortcut Rd, E of Starville Rd
    [{Schwarz, F} (08/16) A storage company owns it and renovated the buildings and turned them into storage units. The launcher area is still there and they park stored RVs and boats on it. The pits have been filled in but you can still see the metal outline of them.
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) One mile E of the IFC, at 6405 Shortcut Rd, now "Jerry's Self Storage & Marine City Glass [810] 765-4030 Main gate is at: 42-41.78N/082-33.80W It's about 2 miles NW of the very small town of Starville. The site is mostly obliterated. The original fence is still up, the sentry hut is intact, but boarded up & now just used to support a sign on top of it advertising the storage facility. ... someone ... could probably call Jerry's, speak with the owner, and get some info about the post-Nike usage of the grounds. Also USACE DERP-FUDS should have info. ]

    D-23 Detroit City Airport / Kercheval web page
    Conner & Gratiot (Detroit City Airport)
    D-23 & D-26 uncertainties maybe resolved Dec 2004, and more Dec 2006

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) {Tyler disagrees with Harvey) I've snooped around, trying to find either the IFC or Battery, but have found neither.]


    [Dunlap, Ken (Jan 09) The radar pedestals are still there on the riverfront, but the silos have been covered over on the east end of Belle Isle. ]
    [{Piland, D} (11/04) ... He said that their Launch area was on Belle Isle and was shared by another battery about a mile west of their battery, which would have been D-26.
    So, I started e-mailing various people who were stationed at either D-23 or D-26. So, with all their input, I think the mystery about D-23 has been cleared up, as well as the situation of D-26 further defined. All the while, Mark Morgan, one of the authors of RSS was kept abreast of the information.
    After everything was considered, here is what seems to be about 100% accurate. This is referring to the entries for these two sites in RSS:
    The thing to consider is, if the location of D-23 were changed to:
    * Shared double launch with D-26; separate IFCs
    LOC: C - end of Lenox Street

    L - East end of Belle Isle; South of Blue Heron Lagoon
    CUR: C - (O) Ford Park
    L - (O) Field

    And if the location of D-26 were changed to:
    * Shared double launch with D-23; separate IFCs
    LOC: C - end of Conner Street

    L - East end of Belle Isle; South of Blue Heron Lagoon
    CUR: C - (O) Maheras Memorial Park
    L - (O) Field

    [{Page, T} Dec 2008. For a couple of modern views
    Note: The "field" for the launch area may in fact be part of Belle Isle Park. This should be easy to verify through the city of Detroit.

    The above also is consistent with information that half the launchers on Belle Isle were converted to Hercules and Half remained Ajax. This matches information that D-23 remained Ajax until it closed in 1960 and that D-26 was converted to Hercules in 1958. ]

    D-26 Ft Wayne/Detroit D-23 & D-26 uncertainties resolved Dec 2004, June 2008
    Three Corps of Engineers drawings, A, B, C, in .pdf format, about 400 KBytes each, from Tom Page,
    web page
    C - end of Conner Ave, S of Freud Ave
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) IFC: . It is not at the end/foot of Connor Avenue, but is at the end of Lenox Street. The area is owned by the City of Detroit and developed into a very nice park. The only building on the site is a brick building (not an original Nike structure) which is the Kiawanis Center for the Handicapped. Two concrete MTR/TTR RADAR towers are intact, one having the Kiawanis Center sign on it. Otherwise, the Nike era stuff is oblitterated. ]

    L - Belle Isle; Blue Heron Lagoon



    [{Piland, D} (11/04) see D-23 above - "And if the location of D-26 were changed to:
    * Shared double launch with D-23; separate IFCs
    LOC: C - end of Conner Street

    L - East end of Belle Isle; South of Blue Heron Lagoon
    CUR: C - (O) Maheras Memorial Park
    L - (O) Field"
    ]
    [{Partington, D} (April 2003)I was an LCT operator. The rear of the base property backed up to within a few feet of the Coast Guard lighthouse on the island. The Blue Herron lagoon was indeed there, but the base was (as I remember) SE of the lagoon. The north fence line ran along, and a few feet in from the lagoon to the lighthouse. Then turned and ran back along the south side to the main gate.

    From the main gate you could see the Coast Guard station 2 or 3 hundred yards away. There was a park concession stand about the same distant from the main gate and close to the end of the lagoon( as I remember) The main gate was sort of between them.
    [{Krimmel, K} Ours was the only site in NORAD called non-operational due to a ship. Seems that a coal ship headed for the electric plant south of us ran aground right in front of the Fire Control. The missile tracking radars could not see over the steel hull to lock on a missile across the river.]

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) The D-26 Launch Battery was on Belle Isle, and island of approx 600 acres in size that's in the middle of the Detroit river, halfway between mainland Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Belle Isle is at the mouth of the Detroit River, right before Lake Saint Clair, and the island has had a bridge to mainland Detroit since the 1920s. Specifically, D-26L was on the Eastern tip of Belle Isle, but in terms of the EXACT location, some sources say it is at what is now the Blue Heron Lagoon (42-20.8N/082-57.6W) -- a pond type area, but other sources indicate it was about a hundred yards SE of the lagoon. The area to the SE is a mostly open field which DOES seem to have an open, grassy section approximating the size/shape of a Nike battery that is a few feet above grade. It is level and conformal enough to where I do believe it is not natural terrain... This site would be at 42-20.7N/082-57.4W.

    Belle Isle related web: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/detroit/d6.htm (does not mention NIKE usage) ]

    D-51 NAS Grosse Isle web page, Unauthorized Visits
    Grosse Isle (Grosse Isle Municipal Airport)
    [{Bateman, T}The IFC Area is on the North side of Groh road West of E. River Road. It now belongs to a landscaping company. The only thing left there are the TTR/MTR Radar towers.]
    [{Bateman, T}The Launcher Area is on the SE side of the airfield near the former Seaplane base. The only thing left at the Launcher area is the access road. The whole area has been converted into a nature conservatory which is currently under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency.]

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) IFC -- 8690 Groh Road (16.2 air miles SSW of downtown Detroit), sadly, the two old concrete TTR/MTR towers at the IFC were completely removed within the past year, so the only thing left that I could see is the original fencing, the main gate being at 42-06.45N/083-09.36W. The site is now used to store landscaping stuff like sod, bags of soil, equipment trailers, pickup trucks, etc.

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99)
    Launch Battery -- 17 miles SSW downtown Detroit. The former launch site is heavily wooded/overgrown as viewed from the public road, but ... possibly the original fenceline intact. The gate for what according to a sign on it is now the "Nature Area -- Grosse Ile Nature & Land Conservancy & the Environmental Protection Agency" (sic). It's Grosse Ile Municipal Airport (formerly NAS Grosse Ile, from the 1920s - 1969) property. This gate (airport propery gate 19) is at 42-05.92N/083-09.15W. It's about 1 mile S of the former IFC, and is on the W side of E. River Road.

    Grosse Ile Township DPW could probably give more info on the status of the Launch Battery, and their # is 734/696-5959. Thety're actually located right across the street from the old IFC! USACE also has extensive DERP-FUDS material, and Grosse Ile Township Hall apparently is making valid efforts to document the history of the former NAS, and possibly also the Nike sites.

    NAS Grosse Ile Web: http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/oman/556/

    D-54
    (double)
    Riverview/Wyandotte web page
    Fort St & Pennsylvania
    [Dunlap, Ken (Jan 09) now a park and has a missile on display. I took the photo attached (63 K Bytes) and was pretty happy with it. Hope you like it too. fyi- the those are model sailboats in the water. ]
    [{Bateman, T}There is a park on the former site of either the IFC or Launcher Area, I don't know which. It is on the North side of Sibley Road West of Fort Street. I am trying to verify which and locate the other. In the park is a Nike-Hercules standing upright with a plaque dedicating the site. See the pictures at http://members.tripod.com/nikehercules/d-54.html ]

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99)

    D-57 Carleton/Newport web page.
    *Shared double launch with D-58; separate IFCs
    [{Bateman, T} The IFC is partially intact. It is on the South side of Newport Road West of Telegraph Road. The Radar towers, Generator bldg., Barracks, Van pads, and a couple of other buildings I can't identify from beyond the fence are all there. It looks like the NG uses the site for a motor park. This IFC and the D-58 IFC shared the same Launcher Area which is still there. It is SW of the D-57 IFC about a 1/2 mile. The Pits have been demolished but the Barracks, Guard Shack, Warhead Bldg., Assembly & Test bldg., Generator bldg. and a bunch of blast deflectors still remain. All the Launcher Area buildings have been trashed by vandals as it's in a secluded area.]
    D-58 Carleton web page.
    *Shared double launch with D-57; separate IFCs
    D-61 Romulus/Dearborn web page
    Wayne County Airport (Wayne County Airport)

    [{Black, C.} (June 2003) Yes it was called Inkster. It was located next to Metro. Airport. And yes it was Romulus where mail was sent. ]
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) Apparently, both the IFC & Battery were located on the airport property. The airport was initially Romulus Army Air Field, then apparently became Romulus Airport, but for the last couple decades has been called Detroit Metropolitain Airport (DTW).

    From my preliminary research, the D-61 IFC was around 42-13.4N/083-20.0W, and was to the immediate West of Middlebelt Road, near the intersection of Goddard Rd. I was at DTW for a meeting 2 months ago & asked a Lt with the airport FD (he'd been there 17 years) if he knew anything about the old Nike sites. He said he knew about the one that was "by the old National Guard ramp area," which would have been the IFC location. This area is now a ramp area for some small commercial cargo transport ventures, and I've never noticed an old Nike-type structures there.

    D-61L -- I believe it should have been at 42-12.1N/083-20.9, which would have been near the intersection of Superior Rd & Merriman Rd. DTW expanded onto this property sometime in the past, and within the past decade a new runway was built which now occupies the launch battery site.

    ... However there's an old-timer on the DTW Civil Engineering staff who is apparently familiar with the Nike sites. I passed the name & # on to Mike Binder a few months ago, but hopefully I've saved that info too.
    DTW Airport Web: http://www.waynecounty.com/airport/

    D-69 River Rouge Park web page
    Evergreen & Warren (River Rouge Park)

    [{Bateman, T} (5/2001) IFC at Spinoza and Joy Roads and the Launcher Area which was on Outer Drive just south of Joy Rd.. ]

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-69: The former site is in DETROIT's River Rouge Park, not River Rouge (which is a city about 8 miles away). I believe the IFC might have been at 42-21.5N/083-15.2W. There are a couple small cinderblock buildings that looked to be old military, however River Rouge Park used to be home of Camp River Rouge -- a cantonment area for ARNG personnel. USACE DERP-FUDS has a nice report on this use. This site now is used by Detroit Police Dept as a K-9 training area, and would be 10 miles WNW of downtown Detroit.

    D-69L -- I've been told the former site is SE of the intersection of W Warren Ave & W Outer Drive, which means it would have been at about 42-20.5N/083-15.07W

    D-86 Franklin/Bingham web page
    C - N side 11 Mile Rd, E of Inkster Rd (TV transmitter site) <
    [{Bateman, T} The IFC has been demolished. It was on the South side of 11 Mile road East of Inkster Rd. Site is now the location of WKBD-TV.
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) IFC -- ... I agree with Bateman, except I don't think that the IFC is now at the WKBD TV studio/transmitter site, though that site is very close. To me, the IFC appears to be right off of 11 Mile Road, in what is now Southfield's Optimist Park -- 42-29.08N/083-17.7W.

    L - S side 11 Mile Rd, E of Inkster Rd
    [{Siedzik, J} The launch site is pretty much trashed. Lots of telephone poles and lights that seemingly lit up nothing. There are 2 giant concrete pillars about 200 feet apart and about 30 feet tall whatever these were! There is also an obviously man made hill with vent pipes coming out of it and a pumphouse next to it for I don't what. Maybe fuel?? ]
    [{Bateman, T} The Launcher area is partially intact. It is on the North side of 11 Mile Road about 1/2 a mile East of the IFC site. It resides within an Army Reserve facility. The Fueling Berm is still there but the building is gone. There is another building outside of the berm which I can't identify but could be the Generator Building. The Barracks and the Admin building have been converted to use first by the Naval Reserve (I drilled there and did not even realize what the site was) and now by the Army Reserve. The water purification building and a tank still remain along with all 3 pits which have filled with water.]
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) I agree with Bateman. The coords for this site are 42-29.2N/083-18.3.

    D-87 Commerce/Union Lake web page, some pictures
    C - S side Commerce Rd, E of Carroll Lake (Proud Lake State Recreation Area
    [{Storemski, S} (May 2010) Wise Rd 48085 Union Lake Mi 9491
    [{Bateman, T} The IFC is almost intact - minus the radars. It is on the South side of Wise Road Just East of Carroll Lake Road. It is also owned by the Michigan DNR. It is being used as a Day Camp for children. The HIPAR equipment building (with HIPAR platform foundation), Generator building, Barracks, Admin building, Guard Shack, and Helo pad still remain. ]
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-87: Located about 29 air miles NW of downtown Detroit, in Commerce Township.
    IFC -- 42.35.8N/083-28.75W. S side of E Wise Rd, about 1/4 mile East of Carroll Lake/Commerce Rd. It is partially intact, with some of the foundations still in place for the control trailers some of the barracks & office type buildings. As of 2 years ago, the site was known as Camp Oakland -- a low-security alternative-sentencing type facility for juvenile offenders, operated by the Oakland County Circuit Court, Family Division, Youth Assistance Program, though the land might actually be owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and is part of the Proud Lake State Recreation Area #2 (aka a state park/forest). ]
    [{Sharp, C} (September 2002) The site is in very good condition. As stated already, the area is being used as a day camp for children. I appears that the folks have done a very meticulous job of caring for the buildings in the admin area. The HIPAR and generator buildings are still in very good shape but are now being used to store junk. Lots of old school desks and chairs. Outside of the generator building are some pipes sticking out of the ground. These may be the vent pipes but they look like there is wire sticking out of one of them. I am not sure if there was another building there or not. I can see something in the grass just outside the building that may have been some sort of foundation.
    The Helio pad is still there but very weedy. The guard shack is still there but again it is used for junk. There are two buildings adjacent to the guard shack that are from that era but I do not know what they would have been used for. ]

    L - S side Wise Rd, W of Union Lake Rd
    [{Siedzik, J} WOW! ALL the buildings are up at the launch site, very well preserved. It is being cleaned up and made into a Student Day Camp. The boiler room even has some US Army Corp of Engineers papers and books in it describing operation and installation of the heating and cooling equipment. ]
    [{Bateman, T} The Launcher Area was demolished around 1994. It was on the South side of Wise Road about 1 mile East of the IFC Area. All that remains are a few building foundations including the Assembly & Test building foundation, some asphalt road, and some concrete sidewalks. The area is controlled by the Michigan DNR. ]
    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-87: Located about 29 air miles NW of downtown Detroit, in Commerce Township.
    Launch Battery -- 42-36.0N/083-27.9W. I agree with Bateman's description. Another thing the site has a few of are small ventilation pipes of some sort, sticking up from underground. I think they're put there by USACE, but I'm not sure what they're allowing to ventillate. The site is open land, though as Bateman indicates, part of the original paved road is intact, I could make out the helipad symbol still on the concrete, and one of the foundations (I was told for the missile assembly building) even has some of the floor tiling still in place! Despite being at the site, I could NOT make out exactly where the launch batteries actually were, so it seems like they were compltely removed, with the land being graded. The site is now part of the Proud Lake Recreation Area #2 ]
    [{Sharp, C} (September 2002) I was not able to get to the launcher areas. The DNR has blocked access to motorized vehicles but the road that leads back to the area is still intact. I did find what looks to be a road or path from the IFC area towards the launcher areas but I was not able to get back there. ]

    D-97 Auburn Hts. web page
    C - N of MI 59, W of Squirrel Rd (Oakland University, Auburn Hills Campus)
    [{Bateman, T} Oakland University is actually in Rochester, Michigan. Oakland Community College - Auburn Hills Campus is where D-97 was. The IFC is demolished. All that remains is the access road and some debris sticking out of the ground.]

    L - N of MI 59, E of I75 interchange
    [{Freeman, C} (Oct 2007) ... me and my friend went to go check out the launcher site and a emergency medical center has been built on top of it. I hear the building was constructed in 2004. Towards the very back of the medical center, you can see a few deflector plates but that is all, little of the site remains. ]
    [{Bateman, T}The Launcher area is next to the baseball field on the Auburn Hills campus of Oakland University which is East if I-75 and North of M-59. The pits have been filled in but the concrete launch pads with the blast deflecters and rail mounting points still remain. The fueling berm is still there along with a winch boom and the acid fueling pit. The access road, Barracks parking lot and Assembly Building road and partial foundation still but all the original buildings have been demolished.
    Community College

    [{Tyler, T} (12/99) D-97: Located in Auburn HILLS, not Auburn Hts, the sites are about 23 air miles NNW of downtown Detroit.
    IFC: *Approximately* 42-38.7N/083-13.4W. I'd have to defer to Bateman. I poked around the area but did not see anything I could ID as being the former IFC. The grounds are now part of what is a fairly new/modern small university. I'm guessing major parts of the IFC are now a big parking lot and a grassy knoll.

    Launch Battery: 42-38.6N/083-14.05W. I concur with Bateman. Some of the old launch site is now used as a storage site for construction supplies by the university's building contractors. One additional note -- when I was there in the Fall of '98 I saw what appeared to be misc. Nike electrical panelling, etc. scattered about on the ground near the winch boom.

    Previous uncertainties about D-23 and D-26 seem resolved :-))
    Comments on update status - from Tom Lundregan - June 2, 2008
    Regarding Batt A. 85th Bt. Yes the descriptions of Batt A & Batt B.,i.e., the locations were messed-up, which I and others have tried to clear-up.
    We worked closely with the two Marks ( Berhow and Morgan) about location descriptions just a few years ago. RSS 3 will help clear some of this up. However. it will not be 100 % accurate due to the constraints of previous existing Army data / paper-work that the two Marks had to honor in their tasks.
    So. that's it. Tom Lundregan - tjlundregan@cox.net
    Comments anyone ? RSS 3 coming out soon?

    Well, the uncertainties seemed resolved on Dec 3, 2004

    but on Dec 28, 2006, Robert Sisman added:
    I just read the controversy about D23 and D26, I was stationed at this site from Nov. 1959 to Aug, 1960 when I was transfered to Alaska, also Detroit is my hometown. The radar area was at the foot Conner not Lenox the property streched from Conner to Lenox with no access to or from Lenox. The launch area was on Belle Isle near the NE side of the island and is still regonizeable today. There was no Nike site at the Detroit City Airport. I enjoyed reminising and would like to be addes to the roster.

    Regards, Robert G. Sisman ( Fire Control Operator) N.Olmsted, Ohio

    From Mark Morgan, Tom Lundregan, with maps from Wandell E. Carlton - Dec 3, 2004
    Much obliged, Tom, and to all who participated in this exchange.  MK
     
    -------------- Original message -------------- 
    
    > A few comments on this: just to re-confirm: The launch sites( two) were 
    > on Belle Island as previously noted. 
    >
    > The fire control locations were on shore of mainland Michigan, 
    >   one at foot of Lenex St, 
    >   other at foot of Conner St, 
    > Batt A and Batt B in same order. The IFC's were close to Grosse Pointe,MI,
    >
    > Re Belle Is: Belle Isle was not opposite downtown Detroit; 
    > it was a few miles "east",and there was/is a bridge between mainland and 
    > the Isle.Apparently there was a riot on bridge in 1941. All of Belle Is 
    > belongs to the USA. The border between USA and Canada (Windsor) 
    > runs pass Belle Is on the east side of Belle Is. 
    >
    > Downtown has another Bridge to Canada which is the main artery to/ from 
    > Canada.The River here is fairly narrow. 
    > 
    > These are minor clarifications. Tom Lundregan 
    > tjlundregan@cox.net 
    From Tim about D-23 and D26 - received November 27, 2004
    There's really not much new for me to offer about the Detroit stuff -- I moved to California about 2 and a half years ago, so everything I could say about the Detroit stuff in question would be based on my memory of having poked around the sites until Spring of 2002, and while I enjoy visiting & documenting Nike sites & other Cold War era military facilities, I should definitely not be considered any sort of scholar or expert on Nike stuff.

    The biggest mystery to me is still D-23, which has been listed as being at or near Detroit City Airport. The couple of you that I corresponded with regarding Detroit Nike sites & the D-23 & D-26 'controversy' a couple years ago while I was still in Detroit perhaps have saved the email -- I did not -- if you did, and think it'd be relevent to the discussion now, please distribute it along. I poked around the Detroit City Airport numerous times, looking for the 'signature' of an old Nike site on or near the airport property, and I saw no such signatures, especially at Gratiot & Conner, where the site supposedly was. Problem is, that area was (as of 3 years ago) a pretty rundown residential & commercial area, with many old vacant lots with cyclone fences around them, so I can't confirm nor deny that there was a Nike site at/near the Detroit City Airport. D-61 however, was definitely located at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in Romulus, about 25 miles W, however. But City Airport is in-line with an imaginary line drawn from downtown Detroit out to Selfridge ANGB in Mt Clemens, where D-14 & 16 were, so a Nike site at or very near Detroit City Airport (DET) probably wouldn't had had the 23 designation.

    But based on what I'm reading from you guys, I believe that D-23L was colocated with D-26L on the eastern side of Belle Isle, and that as Mr Lundregan indicates, the IFCs for the double-launch site were on the other side of the Detroit River, on the 'mainland' side of Detroit. D-23C would have been in what's now a city park located at the foot of Conner St & known as Maheras Park. Last time I was there, there were zero remains of a Nike IFC, it was just a grassy area with some basketball courts & a Detroit Parks & Rec swimming pool, with the exclusive Bayview Yacht Club located immediately W of the park. There is a small, circular knoll located about a dozen yards or so back from the waterfront that didn't look like natural terrain. I believe this is the site that Val Harvey said he'd been assigned to, and that the knoll once had a RADAR tower atop it. I broke off correspondence with Harvey years ago, when he attempted to call me a "racist" because of an unpleasant, potentially violent encounter I had at the site.

    The other IFC would have been to the East, but less than a mile away, and THAT IFC still had remains as of Spring of 2002 -- two concrete RADAR pedestals. This site is also a City of Detroit Park -- Ford Park, located at the foot of Lenox St. It's mostly just grassy areas with some typical playground type things. The one brick building there does not resemble any Nike architecture or construction I've ever seen, and per a sign (mounted atop the RADAR tower!), it's a City of Detroit/Kiawanis Center for the Handicapped (handicapped kids), though in several visits to the site, I'd never seen any such activity there.

    As far as site numbering goes, if downtown Detroit was the bullseye & the site #s going clockwise, D-23C (aka Battery B IFC)would have to be the W site at the foot of Conner, & then D-26C (aka Battery A IFC) would be the IFC half or 3/4 mile further E.

    Incidentally, both of these IFCs, as well as the double launch site on Belle Isle, would have had THOUSANDS of recreational boats pass by in close proximity each boating season, and in addition to the pleasure boats, the launch site would have had many dozen US & foreign-flagged freighters pass within just a couple hundred feet of it each year. I expect a lot of boaters & sailors must have taken photos of the sites, yet none of these images have ever materialized on the Internet.

    I have digital images of the IFC area as well as the Launch Battery area (which is obliterated) that I could send to any of you upon request. The images were sent to Bateman a couple years ago for his web site, though last time I checked (also years ago...) he hadn't put them up.

    I'll intersperse some more comments with other parts of the thread below:

    
    >     ----- Original Message -----
    >     From: Harvey, Val S Mr. IMMC 
    >     To: Doyle Piland 
    >     Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 7:37 AM
    >     Subject: RE: Any More on "Lost Nike Sites" ?
    >
    >     D,
    >      If I haven't lost it all Roy and Tom can verify: 85th AAA had 4
    >     FU (A,B,C and D Btry). No FU were co-located and only A&B Lch Area
    >     were co-located. All adm , CO, 1st Sgt, Mess, Supply, ect were
    >     located in there own btry  fire control(FC) area. We have already
    >     talked about the location of A&B FC. Over the years I have lost
    >     track of the location of C Btry, but D Btry, 85 was located
    >     at/around 8 Mile and Telegraph Rd and C Btry could have been at
    >     Willow Run Airport.
    >
    
    Well, D-86 was around 11 Mile Rd & Telegraph. There was no Nike site out by Willow Run Airport (YIP).
    >     <>
    >
    >         ----- Original Message -----
    >         From: Harvey, Val S Mr. IMMC 
    
    >         To: REKroy@aol.com 
    >         Cc: Doyle Piland (E-mail) 
    >         Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 2:29 PM
    >         Subject: RE: FW: Any More on "Lost Nike Sites" ?
    >
    >         Youi are absolutely correct, all is not lost with this old
    >         mine. C Btry 85th was at Gross Isle Naval Air Station. I
    >         remember driving Willie Davis back to D Btry from downtown. I
    >         believe we took Grand River way out to Telegraph Rd and the
    >         unit was off Telli. I remember a Capt Wheaton was CO. And that
    >         too is another story.
    >          
    >
    
    Hmm, D-86 was several miles N of the Grand River & Telegraph Rd area, and then D-69 was located a couple miles S of that area.
    >
    >             -----Original Message-----
    >             From: REKroy@aol.com 
    >             [mailto:REKroy@aol.com]
    >             Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 10:34 AM
    >             To: val.harvey@us.army.mil
    >             Subject: Re: FW: Any More on "Lost Nike Sites" ?
    >
    >             My recollection of the battery locations (1958), was , A
    >             and B were at Belle Isle, C was at Grosse Isle, and D was
    >             at (about) Northwestern (J James Cousens)  and Fifteen
    >             Mile Road, near the cider mill.  
    >
    
    Hmm, D-87 was in Commerce Township, about 5 miles NW of where Northwestern Highway & 15 Mile (aka Maple Rd) would have met, and D-86 was in Southfield, around Northwestern Highway & Telegraph Rds. If by the cider mill, Ralph was referring to the Franklin Cider Mill, he'll be happy to know the historic place was still going strong as of 2002!
    >     <>
    >      
    >
    >         ----- Original Message -----
    >         From: REKroy@aol.com 
    >         To: dpiland@zianet.com 
    >         Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 1:30 PM
    >         Subject: Re: FW: Any More on "Lost Nike Sites" ?
    >
    >         Some of these may have been gun batterys. Not all were
    >         operational Nike Ajax units during 1956-1958 when I was on
    >         active duty.  I do not recall a Nike Ajax site between Algonac
    >         and Marine City, but I do recall a facillity in that area, the
    >         St Claire River shore, that may have been a gun battery. We
    >         had a cottage on Harsens Island, just south of Algonac.
    >
    
    The Algonac/Marine City Nike site was D-17. I've visited it.
    >      Was there another site somewhere closer to Fort Wayne that caused
    >     it to be listed as being at Fort Wayne?  Mark Morgan says "... all
    >     of the battery assignment info (such as D/85th etc) came out of
    >     Army records but there have been more than a few discrepancies
    >     between what the Army put out and who was actually where, at more
    >     than one defense area."
    
    Perhaps a temporary site was on the grounds of Fort Wayne? Not a lot of open space there besides the parade grounds. Closest permanent Nike site would have been D-69 on the grounds of the former Camp Rouge, in what's now Detroit's Rouge Park. D-23/25 & D-54 wouldn't have been too much further away. I understand froma friend who saw a documentary about the history of Belle Isle that the Belle Isle launch site (23/26L) was initially a temporary/portable site until the underground magazines were built.
    
    >      
    >     Now, what about "C" Battery.  The records used for RSS indicate
    >     that "C" Battery was absent for a while.  It didn't show up until
    >     1957.  It also shows "C" as being at D-54, a double site, while
    >     Ralph says it was at NAS Grosse Isle.
    
    I'm just familiar with the sites by their numerical designation, not the letters, but yes, I dunerstand that D-54 was a double site, while I believe the D-51 site at NAS Grosse Ile would have been a single site, based solely on the fact (?) that there was only one IFC. I have USACE DERP-FUDS records i my files at home which would confirm/deny this.

    I've bee atop the D-54 magazines -- they were covered over & there's now one or two soccer fields atop them! But off & one for the past couple years, there's been discussion that maybe the land is contaminated due to the former Nike use (there is a Nike missile & memorial plaque on display nearby) & thus kids should be running around atop the area, so the community was considering having the buried launch battery remains dug up & removed. Though I'd heard that D-54 was a double launch site, I have no info on two separate IFCs. I looked around in the area for ANY IFC remains, after having been to the former Launch site, and I believe the IFC site(s) are long-gone, covered over by a residential subdivision and/or a couple nursing homes.

    That's about all I can add to the matter. I'll take another look at Uncle Ed Thelen's web page & my comments there, to refresh my memory about what I disagreed with Val Harvey regarding. I think what it came down to was that he said the D-23/26 IFC was one location (foot of Conner), and I merely tried to point out that I found clear IFC remains at another nearby location (foot of Lenox), and zero IFC remains at the site he mentioned. This may have been before I understood that the Belle Isle launch area was a double site, and thus there would have been TWO separate IFCs nearby.

    Sincerely,

    Tim Tyler
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    .
    Minnesota

    For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
  • MS-40 Farmington
  • MS-48DC S. Minneapolis
  • MS-70 St. Bonifacius
  • MS-90 Bethel/Isaniti
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    MS-40 Farmington 30 miles S Minneapolis
    C - (USAR center)
    [{Karg, Dan} Feb 5, 2012, For sale with pictures. ]
    [{Fischer, W} The IFC site has been privatly owned for the past several years. The current owner lives there and has allowed me to look at the site as well as photograph it.
    The Launcher site was taken over by The Bureau of Mines the very day the Army left it and has been very well maintained. The buildings are in good condition, and the magazines are clean and dry and the elevators and doors are still completely functional.]

    [{LaFaye, T} MS-40, which is currently owned by the US Bureau of Mines, which was recently dissolved by congress and is disposing of all of it's property.

    The site is in wonderful condition, all the underground magazines have been well maintained and are working. The Bureau would like to grant the property to some other government agency, however, none have come forward. I have been working with the Minnesota Vehicle and Arms museum, who has expressed interest in taking over the site for their museum, but they are not a government agency. We are looking for an agency that could accept the property then turn it over to the museum. The State Historical Preservation Officer has declared the site eligible for the National Registry.]

    [{Karg, D} This site was used during desert storm (1990-1991) as a HF radio site to provide commutations between the forces in the middle east and their families. GPS - close to N44 34 17, W93 04 37 ]

    L -
    [{Plante, RG} Oct 2008 - From the Farmington (MN) Independent newspaper today. (requires registration) Make a "Valleyfair of (law enforcement) training centers"
    [{Brown, M} April 2007 - Was recently purchased by a private party and in the process of turning it into a public safety training facility. The underground pits and command centers have all been filled in and the owner was told that the site is still being photographed by Russian Satellites. Otherwise buildings are all under repair. ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=44-34-12 93-04-50

    MS-48DC Snelling AFS S. Minneapolis, I-494
    More details at Radomes.org
    [{Page, T} - July 2010 - As most of you know, Snelling AFS, MN (P-36) (once HQ 31st Air Division (Defense)(ADC) and home to the manual Air Defense Control Center (ADCC) for same) was transferred to the U.S. Army sometime after the SAGE system went on-line, circa 1961. The Army converted the former ADCC building into their Nike Missile AADCP, MS-48DC, for the Minneapolis - St. Paul Defense Area.
    The "Historic Aerials" website, http://www.historicaerials.com/, has recently added imagery for 1966. In the 1966 image for Snelling AFS (attached), the ADCC / AADCP building {upper center} can be seen clearly and with the Army's radar mounted on the roof (at the west end). The radar antenna and its shadow both can be discerned. RSS-3 states that the radar type was an AN/FPS-69 (according to various sources, an AN/FPS-69 was an Alternate Battery Acquisition Radar, or ABAR).
    Compare to our photos at http://www.radomes.org/museum/photos/SnellingAFSMN1968Radar2.jpg (1968) and http://www.radomes.org/museum/photos/SnellingAFSMN1967Radar1.jpg (1967). RSS-3 indicates the AADCP and radar were used up until 1971. If anyone wants to view the source "Historic Aerials" imagery, the Latitude-Longitude coordinates are 44.87055556, -93.00000000. The earliest available image (1957) shows Snelling AFS when it was still an Air Force facility. The next available image date is 1979, and by then, most of the site had been demolished. Today, the site is part of the Fort Snelling National Cemetery. ] [{Rovner, J} middle of the Ft. Snelling National Cemetery. - obliterated, area "used".]
    MS-70 St. Bonifacius 30 miles W Minneapolis
    C - (private owner)
    [{Santagata, Gus } (2010, Aug 12) The IFC area is developed but I found the pad for the HIPAR tower and the Hipar Bldg still standing along with some Nike Bldgs. It also looked like the corridor bldg was still there too. Since it was a weekend and the area seemed privately owned and no one around in did not try to go in. All observations made from the road side which is oddly enough named NIKE road. ]
    [Anonymous - May 2007 - The IFC site was sold many years ago and had been converted to private homes. ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=44-56-08 93-45-24

    L -
    [{Santagata, Gus } (2010, Aug 12) First, NO GRAFFITI was found on this site. Let me repeat, NONE. That is rare. MS 70 launcher/exclusion area, is nearly all intact. All the Bldgs are there, however I did not see a dog kennel. 3 magazines, but the exclusion area fence was missing. Did I mention it was not hard to get into? Looked around the Admin area first, found 2 bldgs, both in decent shape for a site closed down in 1972. One looked like a ready room/mess area. Still had some sinks and other hardware in it. Latrines and such. then to the assembly bldgs, both in good shape. Looked inside the one had a fire extinguisher upright in the floor as I waked in. LOTS of birds roosting in all the bldgs. The Missile Assy and warhead bldg in remarkably good shape. . A cinder block building was erected next to MAG "A". It definitely did not belong there. It was built on top of one the launcher positions. See it in the attach pictures. I looked at the historical pictures and as of 1979 this bldg was not there. So it went up some time after 1979. Magazines, 2 are doors closed, one was welded shut (MAG "C"). The other MAG "B" was elevator in up position. and the control box for raise and lower is still attached. you could even read the button labels. I managed to pry open one stairway hatch partially, looked in with my trusty flash light. It had a few inches of water at the bottom of the steps. I went no further. There was NO power to the site. The lines have been cut from the street side and all the boxes I looked at were dead, (yes I even carry a meter with me sometimes) never know what you may find. There was a sign coming in the main gate that said fire training area, (see the picture). ]
    [Anonymous - May 2007 - The launcher site was recently sold to a David Odergeren who plans to convert it to an "urban warfare" training facility for law enforcement. His email address is: dsodergren@imagecowboys.com ]
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=44-57-06 93-46-52
    [{Hammit, M} ... St. Bonifacious MN, ... My next service call was north of this town, and on the way north on a narrow county road, I spotted it. A leveled off hill top, out in the middle of corn fields, fenced off with old rusting military type fencing, grown over bunkers, and some strange looking three pronged cement pillar on the north side. I had to drive in and explore it a little, it's occupied by a auto body shop now, but I found it very interesting to look at. ]

    MS-90 East Bethel / St. Francis /Isanti / Cambridge 30 miles N Minneapolis

    [remain anonymous] (Nov 16, 2008) In this image from Google Maps, the launcher area appears to be filled in and covered over.
    http://tinyurl.com/645kdr
    The launcher area and IFC are both in this screen capture from Google Maps.
    C - (Isanti County Sheriffs Department)
    [{Kuehn, Bob} (June 2015) IFC area is no longer a Sherriff's boys ranch and is up for sale. The old barracks buildings and the administrative buildings are all in excellent condition. Most surprisingly those way-ward boys from Hennepin County had it better than we did as they is an enormous AC unit outside of each building.
    [{Cameron, J} (April 2004) The main buildings (barricks, Cafe.) are being used for the Sheriffs boys Ranch as dorms, I think and office spaces? The large mound where the radars were is still there. P.S. They did not paint the [ radomes orange ] for halloween, they just added some kind of orange lighting inside to "light them up"] Ed's comment: What a great idea to liven up the area for Halloween !!

    L - (private owner)
    [{Cameron, J} (April 2004) drove by yesterday, all the buildings @ the launch area are still there and I bet the "pits" are still intact? ]

    go to top


    .
    Missouri

    For locations and views, fly in using Google Earth thanks to NikeSiteSearchers
  • KC-10 Lawson
  • KC-30 Pleasant Hill
  • KC-65DC Olathe
  • SL-60 Pacific
  • Designation General Location Detailed Location (Current Status)
    KC-10 Lawson [{Morgan, M} ... located about 1.5 miles east of the town (Lawson) , straddling Farm Road OO. ]
    [{{Janne, Rich}, YouTube of Exploring Nike Missile Base KC-10 - And Classic Cars!]

    C - 1.5 E Lawson, S of County 00 ((I)Missouri Dept of Health, Ed, Welfare)
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=39-24-55, 94-10-27 ]
    [{Morgan, M} KC-10C is immediately south of OO; it is intact (04 Jul 90) ]

    L - 1.5 E Lawson, N of County 00 ((I) City of Lawson/ Steam-Action Company)
    [{Murdock, S} GPS=39-26-06, 94-10-22 ]
    [{Morgan, M} (04 Jul 90) KC-10L is a mile north, up a private road marked ?City of Lawson-No Trespassing.? ?Surprise! There be a business here! Steam-Action Company has the site, which is pretty well run down. The business manufactures industrial-strength carpet cleaning equipment; their biggest, truck-mounted unit is named the ?Nike Magnum.? The manager said he was fully aware of the site?s significance. The company built their building right over the three magazines; he offered to take me down into the basement but it was flooded. ... Some of the launcher blast plates are still exposed as are the crew access doors. ]

    KC-30 Pleasant Hill Underground Ozarks, Nike Battery KC-30, by whiterabbit atsign undergroundozarks adot com spotted by seastringguy atsign hotmail adot com Guy Hodson
    Guy Hobson reports (Setp 2006) that the "portion not owned by the Lone Jack School Dist. might be able to be purchased if the price was right."
    C - 3 S Lone Jack, Farm Roads KK & E ((P)US Government)
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-49-51, 94-09-43 ]

    L - 4 SSE Lone Jack ((I) W.R. Gibson Farms & Flight Systems Inc.)
    [{Page, T} - March 24,2013 - KC-30 Launcher area for sale
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-49-01, 94-09-20 ]

    KC-65DC NAS Olathe Location: 1.5 NNE Gardner, adjacent to former NAS Olathe
    Currently: (I) NARCEN Olathe; HQ Readiness Command Region 18
    More details at Radomes.org
    SL-60 Pacific [{Murdock, S} (16 Feb 20014) - from March 2007: http://www.airforcebase.net/trips/vacation/vacation.html ]
    see web site by David Novak

    C - 55 off of County Rd NN, - (P) private (MPL Industries)
    [{Siegfried, William (Bill) (28 June 2014) - The IFC is gated and locked with a sign that warns guard dogs are on the premises. No one was here but there were a few cars and vans that seemed to be stored inside the gate and buildings that appear to be in use. From the entrance you can see a radar tower that also seems to be modified for the testing they do here. The launch area is now the grounds of the Nike Elementary School and many of the old buildings are still in use. The road around back does lead to the launch site and is gated and locked with a prominent "No Trespassing" sign. A nearby trailer park backs to the fence behind the sign so I went there to see if I could get a better view. At the park I was greeted by 4 unfriendly dogs with collars running loose and most of the trailers had dogs chained in the yards. Not a place to walk around unescorted. There were no residents out and about to talk to so I turned around and left. }
    [{Morgan, M} (16 Feb 20014) - As for the control site, it?s about a mile north on a separate ridge and truly a whole ?nother thing. The sign at the base of the access road indicates ?Mid-America Testing Lab ? 10525 Signal Hill Drive ? (636)257-4722? and has a nose-on representation of a radial engine with propeller. Get to the top of the hill and what do you find? A large, boxy structure covered with plate glass windows and a large, radial engine with propeller on top of a movable test stand. According to the woman who lived in one of the buildings down by the gate, the company performs destructive, high-wind-velocity of plate glass and paneling. After seeing the pile of bent frames and shattered glass scattered around, I?d have to say I believe.
         While we didn?t see any towers there is one large cinder-block building at the top which may have been part of the FPS-71 installation. Otherwise, the site was equipped with an AN/FPA-16 and the usual TTR, TRR and MTR operated by C/1/62nd. I?d rate it as a partial; the lat/long is 38-24.29N/090-44.02W.
    [{Larsen, D} (Feb 16, 2014) The control area was most certainly at a higher elevation and is on a hilltop ( http://binged.it/1ml76g2 ). It is private, with access from Signal Hill Drive. ]
    [{Campbell, B} Time has been unkind "up on the hill".

    L - 65 2 SW Catawissa, S of County Rd AP (Nike Base Rd) -(I) Nike School, school district support services, 1 building destroyed
    [{Chiles, S} (Aug 2012) ... over the years I heard there was an old base there, hence "Nike Base Rd." but years ago, the street sign disappeared where it intersects with Highway NN, and now only an "AP" sign remains. ... At the other end of "Nike Base Rd." aka "AP," there is a hand-made sign that says "Nike Base Rd." - this is at the intersection of Highway HH and Nike Base Rd./AP, so I guess somebody is still trying to preserve the history of the area. ... saw the "new" Nike Elementary school (5 years old according to another post) where the old "admin. building" used to be. To the left of the new school a few well-maintained unmarked buildings remain, painted gray, and they still look like government buildings to me. Since the buildings are unmarked for the most part, they did look a little mysterious. We only saw a sign on one of the buildings that said "Transportation Dept." We drove around to the back side of the buildings and saw a gravel road (good shape) that led up the hill where we saw a large fenced in area with a no trespassing sign, I assume that's where the launch site was. [ This is more likely the IFC area if 1/2 mile away. ] I did a little research and saw it's owned now by MPL Industries, looks like they might use it for storage of trucks, trailers and/or construction equipment. ]
    [{Murdock, S}GPS=38-24-14, 90-45-19]
    [{Campbell, B} Right after the site was handed over to the county, the "barracks" were used, for many years, as the school. Five years ago, a new school building was erected in the former "admin area". I toured the site shortly after the equipment was removed in '67 and then again on Monday. The old launcher section is mostly intact (less rails and launchers), but has quite a few weeds/trees growing here and there. The missile assembly building was all boarded up and all the guard shacks are in advanced states of decay.]

    Administration area:
    [{Morgan, M} (16 Feb 20014) - This one?s a three-parter with separate admin area (SL-60A) down the hill a tad from the magazine and launcher facility; C/1/62nd operated the site from May 1960 through December 1968. The Nike Elementary School ? dedicated in 1990 ? sits on the admin site adjacent to several preserved barracks and support structures. ]

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