Friday, May 15, 2009

Nike ABM Batteries in Chicago and the surrounding areas: Cold War Legacies

The Trib section "What Ever Happened To...?" explored the brief history of Nike missile sites in Naperville and Addison in "Old Missile Sites are Silent Reminders of A Tense Time." The article mentions one installation appeared near Argonne National Laboratory, but the spots were converted into parks (Nike Park in Naperville) or purchased for public works facilities.

As part of Cold War preparedness for a potential Soviet nuclear assault during the Eisenhower administration, several were built in and around Chicago, not to mention nearly all major cities. Downtown Chicago hosted one where Belmont empties onto Lake Shore Drive and a radar station at Promontory Point in Hyde Park with an accompanying missile battery in nearby Jackson Park. Those links provide more than you ever wanted to know about the brief, yet odd, history of Nikes in Chicago.

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