# Nike Missile Base Locations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 14, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799 "2005-05-14T04:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/21 "2017-10-25T14:57:51Z")
Yes - here are some images: [CL-02 - Bratenahl | The Nike Detroit - Cleveland Defense Area Website](http://nikehercules.tripod.com/cl-02.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/22 "2017-10-25T20:54:35Z")
Nike base in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Dunno if it was there for Chicago, or Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/23 "2017-12-04T16:31:42Z")
Perhaps some of you might like a T-shirt?: [https://www.medalsofamerica.com/Item--i-T1744\_Header](https://www.medalsofamerica.com/Item--i-T1744_Header) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/24 "2017-12-04T21:29:08Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Another site was on the Palos Verdes peninsula in what was then Fort MacArthur. The site is now the location of the civic center for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. My Dad worked there for years. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/25 "2017-12-05T02:00:50Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > I suppose a Naperville emplacement would be useful to defend _Aurora_. I can’t imagine Aurora having been on a bombing list for anybody but the Keep America Beautiful brigade. You mean the Naperville that’s less than 10 miles from the Argonne National Laboratory, the heavily secured nuclear research facility that engaged in classified research throughout the Cold War? That Naperville? But yeah. Aurora would have been a useful cover.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/26 "2017-12-05T04:32:22Z")
Only a short drive from my place: [Great Falls Nike Missile Site](https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2091) [Herndon, VA Nike Missile Site](http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMAM9Z_Nike_Site_W_83L_Herndon_Virgina) Decades ago my mom casually mentioned “the old Nike missile site” when we passed it, and I wasn’t sure she knew what she was talking about, but she was exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/27 "2018-11-30T16:06:45Z")
Bumped because Cecil’s 2005 column is back on the front page. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/28 "2018-12-01T03:58:58Z")
Summit, NJ, part of the New York ring, is only a few miles from me. Every five years or so one of the local papers will do a where-are-they-now? piece. ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/29 "2018-12-01T14:56:30Z")
Nike Sports Complex located at the corner of Mill St and Diehl Rd in Naperville is not named for the shoe company. This was the launch area for site C-70. The control area was located at the current BP corporate campus on Warrenville Rd between Washington and Mill Streets. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/30 "2018-12-01T15:05:45Z")
In Cleveland, silos were dug in Bratenahl; one silo is currently used to house main computer system for DFAS ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/31 "2018-12-01T15:06:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does anyone know if there were any Nikes defending Cleveland, and if so, where they were? I’ve seen some of the old WWII anti-aircraft guns (there’s one on the lawn of the Brooklyn city hall, and I think a few on the lakefront), but I’ve never seen any missile sites (or at least, none recognizable as such). Bratenahl ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/32 "2018-12-01T15:09:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > The most visible site was the one in Bratenahl. I remember them very well, the missiles were not underground, they pointed north over the lake. Just one of the landmarks us kids looked for as we drove along the Shoreway to Grandpa’s house. > > The buildings are still there. > Dennis one silo houses computer system for DFAS ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/33 "2018-12-02T13:32:07Z")
Ye Olde [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nike_missile_sites). I used to play/roam around as a kid at Site NY 93/94 in Ramsey/Mahwah. The site turned into a mega McMansion development in the 1990s though. My [county](http://www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/nikemissile.html) has a really good historical site about them. At the bottom of the page is a link to work of historian Donald E. Bender, who has [other good reads](http://www.nicap.org/reports/nike4.htm) on the Nike Hercules system. Between that, and our former/current nuclear weapons’ stockpile, I am _amazed_ we got of the Cold War alive. Tripler Child of that Cold War. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/34 "2018-12-02T20:07:11Z")
I think I said this in another thread but I remember the one next to Elizabeth Township High School very well. It was one of the popular make-out spots for us kids even though bits of it were still in use in the early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/35 "2018-12-02T22:44:13Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I think I said this in another thread but I remember the one next to Elizabeth Township High School very well. It was one of the popular make-out spots for us kids even though bits of it were still in use in the early 70s. “Did the world explode for you too, honey?” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799/36 "2019-01-25T02:30:58Z")
We were talking about Summerfest (MKE music fest), and I mentioned to a student that I remember when it was moved to a former Nike missile base. She got scared: “When did Nike make missiles?!?” From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerfest): \*The inaugural Summerfest was held in July 1968 at 35 different locations throughout the city (including Milwaukee County Stadium and Milwaukee Arena), and its events ranged from concerts to a film festival, an air show, and even a pageant… In 1970, a permanent central location was decided upon, and **Summerfest moved to a former Nike missile site on the lakefront** , where it continues to be held to this day.\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nike-missile-base-locations/303799.md?page=1)