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OVERVIEW
Nike missile sites were constructed in rings surrounding major urban and industrial areas and key Strategic Air Command (SAC) bases and other sensitive installations. Though they were built on government-owned property where available (such as military bases and former artillery bases), much real estate was acquired specifically for missile-base construction, including two portions of Chicago's Burnham and Jackson Parks. Approximately 250 sites were constructed in the U.S. between 1953 and 1958.
Two Nike missile bases had formerly been located in the parks along Lake Shore Drive--one south of McCormick Place East (designated C-40) and the other adjacent to the East Lagoon in Jackson Park (designated C-41). The site in Jackson Park was built on a former artillery range. Large underground voids for missile storage at these former missile bases were distant from the project and considered to be of no concern to the highway. However, numerous underground storage tanks had been installed to store fuel for space heating and for fueling of both missiles and vehicles. Not all were removed prior to closing of the missile bases (Chicago Park District, 1962; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1995; IT corporation, 1998).
--Excerpt from Illinois State Geological Survey Report OFS 2004-14: “From Missile Bases to Public Spaces: Conducting Environmental Assessments of City Parks” – C. Brian Trask (2004)
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In 1953, the U.S. Army leased land from the Park District for a Nike
missile base on a Jackson Park meadow. Soon afterward, it took
part of Promontory Point for a radar site.
The radar towers stood south of the fieldhouse on a large tract surrounded
by a barbed-wire fence. One of the towers reached 150 feet in height,
and all of them dwarfed the turret of the fieldhouse. Many neighborhood
residents resented the radar towers and their placement on the Point,
but protests became vocal only in the Vietnam era. After the radar towers
finally came down in 1971, there was a victory rally with the slogan,
"We've won our Point."
--Excerpt from
"Promontory Point: Lake Michigan at 55th Street, Chicago,
1937-1987" by John McDermott, Jr.
- Click here
for more information on the history of the Nike missile battery based
in Jackson Park.
- You
can read the U.S. Government booklet Last Line of Defense: Nike Missile
Sites in Illinois by clicking here.
Hard copies can be obtained from: Mr. Keith Ryder, Archaeologist, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers 111 N. Canal St. Chicago, IL 60606-7206 (312)
353-6400 x2020 keith.g.ryder@usace.army.mil
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IFC Radar Towers at Promontory Point, 55th St & South Shore Drive
Same IFC Towers at The Point, with Lake Michigan in the foreground
Promontory Point as it exists today, as seen from my window in Shoreland Hall (formerly the Shoreland Hotel) at The University of Chicago
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Click
on yellow areas for photos and information.
For a larger
map of the Jackson Park area, click
here.
Click on C-41 IFC Radar Area and C-41
Launcher Area in the satellite photo below for magnified satellite
photos of each area. For an enlarged version of the photo below, click
here.
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| Nike Ajax missiles in launch position. This is a U.S. Army photo of Boston Site B-15 (15 July 60), but site C-41 in Jackson Park would have looked identical. |
Click here for more photos and information about the launcher area. |
| Click here for more photos and information about the IFC radar tower area. |
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VIDEO |
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NIKE AJAX
In 1954, the U.S. Army deployed the world’s first operational, guided,
surface-to-air missile system. This system, the Nike Ajax, was conceived
near the end of World War II and developed during the early years of
the Cold War. With an increasing perception of a direct Soviet bomber
threat to the American mainland, the Army rushed Nike Ajax into production
and deployed the missile system around major urban locations including
Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
Nike Ajax consisted of a two-stage guided missile powered by a solid-fueled booster engine and a liquid-fueled sustainer engine. The sustainer engine was fueled by JP-4 jet petroleum with an inhibited red fuming nitric acid oxidizer and a catalyst consisting of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine. This missile had a range of 48 km (30 mi) and carried a conventional warhead. The first Ajax base was operational by 1954 at Fort George C. Meade, MD, and several antiaircraft artillery bases in the Chicago area had been converted to Nike missile bases by 1957. A total of 24 bases were constructed in the ring surrounding Chicago and Gary, IN. |
| Click here to view a video compilation of several Nike Ajax launches. |
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NIKE HERCULES
NUCLEAR
MISSILES IN JACKSON PARK?
This photo shows the newer, nuclear capable Nike Hercules in the
foreground and its smaller predecessor, Nike Ajax. in the background.
Site C-41 in Jackson Park and Promontory Point was converted to Nike
Hercules missiles and equipment in April 1959.
Whereas the Nike Ajax, with its conventional Composition B warhead was
designed to destroy individual aircraft, Nike Hercules with its W-31 nuclear
warhead (with switchable 2 or 40 kiloton yields) was designed to destroy
entire squadrons of supersonic aircraft at altitudes in excess of 150,000
feet at a range of over 87 miles. In addition to the W-31 nuclear warhead,
the Nike Hercules could also carry a 1000 pould T-45 conventional high
explosive warhead. Even today, the government will not disclose which
domestic Nike Hercules sites were equipped with the W-31 nuclear warheads.
Here's an email I received from a former Command Sergeant Major who worked
with the Nike program in Chicago:
As a former
member of 1st Bn, 60th ADA, I can tell you that "D" Battery, was part
of the Battalion prior to the Democratic Convention of 1968. I can also
tell you that the Chicago police (and military - operation Garden Plot)
response to the SDS and others rioting during the convention was very
much as the result of the nuclear capability (very few people would know
for sure one way or the other, although at the time we believed we had
nukes on the birds) of Battalion.
In addition
to my normal occupational activities, I was tasked with riot control chemical
defense and was on orders as a selected marksman to defend the missiles
and warheads. Although not a member of D battery, I was tasked with supporting
it prior to the convention and riots. When I left the Bn in July 1969,
I signed an obligation for a twenty-five year period of silence with respect
to all activities within the Battalion and the Nike system. Since that
period is long past, I can tell you that at the time, (spring '68) government
intelligence believed that the Students for a Democratic Society would
attempt to occupy one of the Bn sites (most likely Jackson Park) and hold
Chicago as ransom, during the convention. I know this story sounds like
something from a novel, but it is history I participated in.
CSM(r) G.L.Huber |
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30-minute public affairs film produced by the Army |
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Click to stream via Real Player |
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Click to view in Windows Media Player |
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Nike Missile System and Test Equipment -- Instructional Manual and Operations Guide
Click here for a complete PDF download of this document. For a chapter-by-chapter download, click here. (Courtesy Ed Thelen) |
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Video of a Nike Hercules interception.
Click to view in Windows Media Player |
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NIKE
AJAX |
NIKE
HERCULES |
| Length: |
21
feet (34.8 feet w/booster) |
41
feet |
| Diameter: |
12
inches |
31.5
inches |
| Weight: |
1,000
pounds (2,455 w/booster) |
10,710
pounds |
| Range: |
25
to 30 miles |
Over
87miles |
| Speed: |
Mach
2.3 (1,679 mph) |
Mach
3.65 (2,707 mph) |
| Altitude: |
Up
to 70,000 feet |
Up
to 150,000 feet |
| Warhead: |
Conventional:
Comp B high explosive |
Nuclear:
W-31 (2 or 40 kiloton)
Conventional: T-45 high explosive |
| Click here for more information. |
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UNIT
DESIGNATIONS - NIKE SITE C-41 |
YEAR |
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C
Battery, 485th Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Missile),
45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade |
1955 - 57 |
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C
Battery, 485th Missile Battalion,
45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade
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1957
- 58 |
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C
Battery, 2nd Missile Battalion (Nike Hercules),
57th Air Defense Artillery |
1958
- 65 |
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B
Battery, 6th Missile Battalion,
3rd Air Defense Artillery |
1965
- ? |
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D
Battery, 1st Missile Battalion,
60th Air Defense Artillery |
?
- 1971 |
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NIKE SITE C-41 TODAY
What's left of these sites? Not much, if anything--at least upon first glance.
Nike Site C-41 in Jackson Park is, it seems, listed on the Department of Defense's
"Defense Environmental Restoration Program Formerly Used Defense Sites
(DERP-FUDS)" list, both in 1999 and 2001. |
| YEAR |
PROPERTY
NUMBER |
PROPERTY
NAME |
USAGE
DISTRICT |
COUNTY |
STATE |
HAZARDS
FOUND |
INPR
STATUS |
| 1999 |
E05IL3258 |
NIKE BATTERY
C-41 |
LRL |
COOK |
ILLINOIS |
YES |
COMPLETE |
| 2001 |
E05IL3258 |
NIKE SITE
C-41 - CHICAGO |
LRL |
COOK |
ILLINOIS |
YES |
COMPLETE |
According to U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District:
Nike C-41 is a Defense
Environmental Restoration Program - Formerly Used Defense Site (DERP-FUDS).
It is located in Chicago on the edge of Lake Michigan across from the
end of 55th Street at the south end of Burnham Park and operated from
1951 to 1971.
According to an Inventory
Project Report (INPR), written by the Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago
District in 1993, three containerized underground storage tanks were identified
for removal. In 1998, a subsequent geophysical report indicated 13 possible
tanks (2 in the Control Area, 5 in the Launch Area, and 6 in the Housing
Area). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the executing agent responsible
for cleaning up properties that were once operated or owned by the Department
of Defense.
This project has been
recently transferred to the Louisville District. The Louisville District
plans to determine how many, if any, tanks were removed by the Corps of
Engineers, Chicago District and to document their removal with the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency. Plans include revising the INPR and removing,
if necessary, any underground storage tanks on this property. |
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Here are some
examples of other 'structural hazards' listed on the DERP-FUDS
website. According to the site, 'hazards' are described as follows:
"Projects at a FUDS
fall within one or more of the following categories:
Hazardous, Toxic, and
Radioactive Waste:
Cleanup and removal of
hazardous substances. Projects in this category include removal of underground
and aboveground storage tanks, drums, and electrical transformers. These projects
are called containerized hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste projects. Other
projects in this category Include removal of soil or groundwater contaminated
with hazardous substances. Also included are projects for removal of other hazardous
substances or wastes. In addition, this category includes projects for cleanup
of environmental problems associated with contaminated landfills.
Building Demolition and/or
Debris Removal: Demolition and removal of structurally unsafe buildings
or towers and removal of unsafe debris.
Ordnance and Explosive
Waste: Identification and removal of abandoned ordnance and explosive waste
such as bombs, bullets, and rockets. Also included are projects for removal
or remediation of explosive-contaminated soil and chemical warfare material."
If you'd like to see a current state-by-state list of Formerly Used Defense
Sites and their status, click
here. |
Some
history on the Nike missile site at Promontory Point and Jackson Park:
An
excerpt from...
"45th Air Defense Artillery Brigade History"
Chapter V - NIKE AJAX (Part 1)
1 January 1955 - 31 December 1959
by
ANJANETTE U. SIVILICH
(The
complete article can be read here, in "THE
NPG NEWS The Newsletter of the Nike Preservation Group" Vol 4, No.2,
June 2001)
The missile era officially arrived in the Chicago area when B Battery,
86th AAA Missile Battalion moved into the first permanent NIKE - AJAX
site on 24 January 1955. The unit departed C30T at 1230 and arrived at
Skokie, Illinois (C93) at 1605... C Battery occupied C41, Jackson Park.
The administrative Area was located on the old location of the gun site
42. This move and construction rekindled the civilian anger against the
military because of the obviously permanent occupation of the lakefront
parks.
The biggest occurrence in Chicago between the military and the civilian
populace took place over the entire year... This issue was the adverse
publicity toward the Army, more specifically, the ARAACOM sites, gun and
missile, along the lakefront, mainly the Burnham-Jackson Park area:
"Choice park lands have been ceded to the Army 12 NIKE and radar installation…
public lands are used whenever possible to save money. Whose money is
being saved? Not Chicagoans', since we pay doubly for these installations--in
federal income tax and in city taxes apportioned to the Park District…
Is there no better way to provide for our defense than by usurping park
lands, which this city desperately needs… In Belmont Harbor… eight acres…
In Jackson, not only has the original acreage been taken but… 200 trees
are being cut down… We urge again the consideration of building offshore
installations…"
--E. W. Donohue, Chairman, Board of Directors, Hyde Park-Kenwood Community
Conference
"Southtown and the entire Southside has lost the lake front for recreational
purposes between Jackson and Grant Parks… Built approximately a quarter
of a century ago from sand sucked from the bottom of the lake,… named…
(for) Daniel Burnham whose plan for beautifying Chicago drew the admiration
of civic leaders throughout the world… When current projects are completed,
they(drivers) will see… the ugly looking buildings and equipment taking
form… These shanties (corrugated steel barracks) have transformed the
shore line at 44th St. from an attractive park area to one that resembles
a slum."
--Southtown Economist 29 February 1956
"Ald. Leon M. Despres has fired a blast at the Army's NIKE anti-aircraft
installations on the lake front .... Despres complained that the bases
are shutting off large stretches of Lake Michigan to Chicagoans. He
also charged that the NIKE guided missile defense against potential
bombers is obsolete ...."
--Chicago Tribune 7 March 1956
"Sweeping stretches of Chicago's once-dazzling front yard are going
to pot. The Army is one of the responsible villains. It's a bum rap.
Neglect--but not by the military--has left the lakefront… looking… like
a partly cleared slum…"
--Chicago American 7 March 1956
"LTC Williain H. Arnold, 5th Army Commander, told a special park board
meeting Monday that the Army has let contracts for landscaping all lake
front Nike sites."
--Chicago Daily News 20 March 1956
So went the beginning of 1956. Alderman Despres (5th Ward) and the Hyde
Park-Kenwood Community Conference for the South end and Alderman Jack
I. Sperling (50th Ward) for the North led the public effort into attempting
to oust the Army along the lake front. However, the real fight started
in August. In 1951 the Army leased the first four sites, Lincoln Park,
Loyola Park, Calumet Park, and Belmont Harbor, for $1 per year apiece.
The term of the agreement was to run out on 27 August. The park board
extended the time for an additional 30 days. This was more than just a
squabble for the military occupation of a few acres on the Chicago lakefront.
It was a test of a national law--that the government has the power to
condemn land whenever necessary under its right of eminent domain. But
to try to appease the public resentment, public hearings were conducted
in which the Army, Chicago Park Commissioners and interested persons were
encouraged to participate.
On 7 August the Chicago Park District, headed by James P. Gately, refused
to automatically renew the 5 year leases. A public hearing was set for
10 A.M. 24 August at the Park District Administration Building. The Park
District admitted that the Army could initiate condemnation proceedings
and probably retain the land for $1. Therefore a new approach was advanced,
The Army should leave but if they would not move, they should at least
pay for the occupation of the land.
(The complete article
can be read here, in "THE NPG NEWS The
Newsletter of the Nike Preservation Group" Vol 4, No.2, June 2001) |
Ah, the Cold War...
| Nike
Ajax Model Kit |
Nike
Hercules Model Kit |
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| Visitors to this site might be interested in these World War II and Korean War documentary films I have written and co-produced: |
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The 11th Day is now available on DVD. Outpost Harry is currently in production. Click here for more information. |
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For more information on Nike missiles and their deployment around major U.S.
cities during the Cold War, check out the following sites:
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