Why Nike Bases Become Playgrounds
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- Опубліковано 23 лют 2024
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The Nike Missile Base in Addison, Illinois, once served as a vital component of America's defense strategy during the Cold War. Operational from 1955 to 1971, it was equipped with anti-aircraft missiles to defend against potential aerial attacks. However, as the threat landscape changed and military technology evolved, the need for such bases diminished.
In the years following its closure, the site underwent a transformation. Recognizing the potential to repurpose the land for community benefit, local authorities and activists worked to convert the former missile base into a park for children. The process involved extensive planning, cleanup efforts, and community involvement to ensure the site's safety and suitability for recreational use.
Through collaborative efforts and dedication, the once-military facility became a place where children could play, families could gather, and the community could thrive. Today, the former Nike Missile Base in Addison, Illinois, stands as a testament to the power of repurposing, turning a relic of the Cold War into a space of joy and recreation for generations to come.
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How about a video on Chicago park district buildings
Back in the 70's, I want to say 1976, there was an incident and a Nike missile accidently launched outside of St. Louis. I remember it because I was in school at the time and we all got rushed to the old gym in the basement for a "Tornado Drill" in March. While there was still snow on the ground. I remember my parents showing up suddenly at school, and getting bundled in my mom's Mustang with my older brother and mom driving us to my Uncle, her older brother's, farm in Arkansas for 2 weeks, while my dad stayed in St. Louis. It was the first time I really remember my mom speeding. Normally my mom drove very carefully, but we made it from St. Louis to Arkansas in a little over 3 hours when it normally took almost 4 and half.
I grew up near the Addison IL Nike site. The park was the radar portion, off Route 53. The launch 🚀 site was off Jeffrey Drive a mile away or so. When I was a kid in the late 1980s I used to ride my bike to the launch site. It was an asphalt paved road with a chained off entrance that looks like a forest preserve but said US Government Property. I’d ride around that gate and down this long road to a fenced in area that was the abandoned launch site. It was super cool. It is now the public works garage and the 911 call center.
7:02 - funny that you're talking about Arlington Heights, Illinois, but you take a long hard focus on a sign from Los Angeles. 🤔 lol
OMG! Thank you for bringing that to my attention. What’s worse that my own father lived in Arlington Heights so I know the area!
Yes I caught that too. Especially since i'm from that area of Los Angeles, born & raised. And then I started thinking wait there were missiles around here?
Did yall also notice all the dixie flag arctect like bridges etc awsome stuff [>
I always thought Nike Park in Naperville, IL near Diehl Road was from the shoe company Nike when growing up back in the 90s. Until my parents told me it used to be a missile base
Funny enough, I lived very close to there for
about 2 years (in Aurora technically) and had no idea!
I use to work at an airsoft field near KC that is on an old Nike base. Nike Kc10 in Lawson Missouri. MASS Airsoft, If you wanna visit in person they are open on weekends.
There used to be a Nike base by the lakefront in Chicago when I was a kid. It went away, turned into parkland (absorbed into the park system) and you can't even tell it was ever there...
Edit: It was hardly secret. Every once in a while they'd raise the missles for testing.
Nike Missile Base SL-40 outside of Hecker IL was turned into a high school in the early 70's and continues to be one today. Thats the high school i learned to work on cars and weld at.
We sent our juvenile delinquents there also. My buddies mom was the principal there for many years.
The old site at Jackson Park is nicely covered over. The one at Montrose Harbor is the Magic Hedge, and a great bird sanctuary where you can see hundreds of species of birds over migration season.
The control area of this base (the part with the missile domes) was maybe 150 yards from the back of my yard. I remember in about '73 when the LOPAR rotating radar antenna got shut off (it had been going round there for over a decade) and it would just sort of turn in the wind, til eventually it was taken down.
I use to live down the hill from a Nike base in Holmdel, NJ. Now it is a park.
Phillips Park, named after Police Chief Phillips. I knew a girl whose dad worked at Fort Monmouth that lived in one of the little ranch homes in 72.
Nike site C-47 in NW Indiana had been turned in to a paintball field known as Blast Camp years ago. Alot of the old buildings still stand and are part of the field.
That’s pretty cool
Live about a mile from there , it's cool as hell to see that place.
There was a Nike/Ajax missile base in Milwaukee it is now Havenwoods State Park.
I lived across from Nike Hill in Bothell, WA for 17 years. It's a National Guard base now. They finally raized the old base housing about 6 years ago, and it was still clear when I left the area 3 years ago. There're are a number of $1m+ homes around there, but no telling what plans someone had. It's all residential.
Ive done some environmental drilling at some of these Nike sites in and around the Chicagoland area. I drilled wells and collected soil samples due to contamination on some of the sites. That was back in the late 90's.
In the early 60’s our 4 room grade school outside of Boothwyn Pa was right across the highway from a Nike site. We used to watch the missiles lift on their launchers every time the Army held a drill. We would also invariably be told to duck under our desks when the sirens went off. Like that would have made a difference if the site was targeted. But it WAS the early 60’s. When the site closed in the mid 60’s , we young teens snuck in and made forts in the underground bays and had mock battles. It was eventually turned into a school..
I remember the former National Guard/Niki site in Orland Park, IL. Used to drive past the site as a kid in the 90's to get to the Omni grocery store (who else remembers that place?). Think the location is the Orland public works facility now.
Lived near the C-93 base @ Northfield/Skokie Lagoons back in the early 70s, the radomes were clearly visible from the park.
A bit of sad history: In the Detroit area here, as a part of the Detroit defense area, which later merged with Cleveland defense area. The site number D-54/D-55 was named Wyandotte/Riverview. Which had two IFC (or Integrated Fire Control) sites and a single dual launch site. Which meant it had 6 launch Elevators, instead of the normal 3. It existed from 1955 until February of 1963. It was an Nike Ajax site. Somehow or another, after the Army closed the site. Much of the equipment was left underground and....believe or not, powered. In the 1980's two kids went underground to explore it, because the army had shut of the water pumps, there was ankle deep water down there. One of the kids, made the mistake of touching the equipment and was electrocuted and died. The other kid ran to get help. As a result of this, the city of Riverview had to have the power cut and remove the launcher doors and others, deroof the launcher area and put tons and tons of dirt down there and then covered it over with top soil. I've read that the parents sue the US Government, the city of Riverview and the State of Michigan. She received a big settlement. -Chuck in Detroit
I live right next to an Nike missile site. It is an closed-off site for many years with so many proposed projects including a residential area as well as an playground which both of those were flat out reject for many reasons.
I’m really surprised by how many of you guys live near these former sites.
That shouldn’t be surprising at all, Nike missile bases were located around many major cities in the Midwest and other industrial areas, not just Chicago. There was one near where I grew up in the Cleveland suburbs that was also converted into a city park, it’s still called Nike Park or Nike Site. The real surprise would be if you expanded your channel’s perspective beyond the East Coast, West Coast, and Chicago areas that it’s mostly focused on. It’s a lot bigger of a country than just those areas, maybe try expanding your focus a little more often.
The underground complex had huge hydraulic lifts to bring the missiles up from underground
They were amazing
Most of them were never acknowledged as having existed.
I remember seeing one of these sites in Upstate NY that was never acknowledged.
To this day the government denied it ever existed even though it is privately owned now with a defunct restaurant on top of it and the lift still being there as well as the complete underground complex.
Bill Veech then owner of the Chicago White Sox discovered that the Nike bases radar could track T-Storms heading towards the ballpark and would use the data to pass out free raincoats to ticketholders in the exposed areas before the storm hit.
Naperville Illinois had one
Yea there is a Nike base by our house
Hello from romulus Michigan brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for taking us on your adventure through time and history GOD-BLESS
An interesting tale of Cold War history. My father probably saw a Nike missile base from a distance when he moved to Chicago from Los Angeles back in the early 60's.
got one in my town! used to play baseball there as a kid
The suburb at issue is Arlington Heights, IL. At 7:03, there is a shot of an LA street sign of the Arlington Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles, circa Venice Bl & Arlington Av.
THANK YOU, great video, with love from the Wolf Lake Nike Missle Complex, Chicago south east side.
Thanks for watching!
Pierre Marquette State Park, near Alton, Illinois has one in it.
My grandpa had a Montgomery County, MD mapbook from 1974 that showed every Nike launch site location in the county. It was kind of weird to see.
A few of these sites are on Long Island. I know one is in Lido Beach on the north side of Lido blvd opposite Malibu beach club. A hidden history indeed.
In Northampton twp. Bucks County Pa they converted a Nike site into a public park. Buildings still their as well as the launch pads with steel doors welded shut.
Richboro?
I live not far from the cal sag nike site. Its now a illinois state roadway site. My sister lives down the street from the orland park nike site which theyve just got to developing parts of the grounds. The wolf lake site is a forest preserve you can walk also a gangster dump site
We have a Nike Park in Redmond WA.
That's by name - the old site is up in Bothell. Kiddie-corner from Uncle Peteza's!
I went to a highschool in IL. There was a missile tower on our campus. The surrounding area was turned into a parking lot. Very interesting stuff
I lived in Waukesha, WI that had an old Niki base which was turned in to a park.
I grew up 11 miles from a Nike base at the intersection of Newport road an. us 24 in Monroe County, Michigan, one of the rockets still exist. As a static display in Riverview Michigan.
In the Pittsburgh area, there is still a fairly big base still visible in North Park. There were hatches and ramps until recently. We also have a bunch of schools built on them.
Had one here in Bristol Pennsylvania between the shopping strip and in the past couple years the i-95/295 turnpike interchange nothing is left on the grounds I remember going behind the shopping center and had two of those tower's and some walls left from a building never new much of what it was until about 10 years ago
There was an old missile site converted into a park right by my house growing up, we used to hang there when Inwas in HS and had no idea until later what it originally was.
c92 in lincolnshire has the main radar array still up and fenced off.
Pretty sure the actual launch site still has barracks foundations existing and the old actual concrete launch area was made into a parking lot about 10-15 years ago
This is awesome. Ive been wondering about he Nike Sites since I've moved to Chicagoland.
Is it true that montrose beach, bellmont harbor and the area that is now soldier field all used to be Nike sites?
Please make more videos on this subject im so intrigued!
Is this what is/was in Vernon Hills, IL as well? Oh, I typed this before I watched, you do have it listed... I can see the one in VH's outside my office building.... guess no one cares though, LOL... cool vid! Just think, the Bears could build on 325 acres...
I thought the Bears were moving to Arlington Heights
Taxes up too much, still hope maybe...
The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't, and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't.
There is a retired Nike site in Weymouth, MA, converted into a state park (Webb Park) in the middle of Boston Harbor. Lots of people go there to walk, have a picnic or go to the beach. There are memorials and plaques memorializing the history of the site and local veterans who were killed in action. One memorial stone commemorates the original Grape Island site and the actions taken by the colonial militia against the British Army trying to secure supplies there during the Revolutionary War.
There's one in the city where I grew up, West Haven, CT
Great story, thanks for it!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I live down the street from Old Nike Missile Site Road. The site is still there. The county just uses the site for storage now.
Nice to see more Parks built, "hope somebody checks the soil before the kids start playing there."
My old middle school was built on the site of a former nike missile base
My brother in Laws grandfather helped build these in Jersey.
There is one near me that was turned into a public middle school. Not sure how many buildings were left for reuse.
Shame he didn't mention site c-47 which is now a paintball and airsoft field called Blast Camp
Good stuff
Glad you enjoyed
@@ITSHISTORY you have an excellent channel
pls do a video on nike base formanly located on the lakefront of milwaukee wisconsin
Gotta be honest. Until I saw this posted on your great channel, I never ever asked , "Now what" in regard to Nike bases.
Oh i know nike park all to well lol. Worked at that ups hub next door for a minute. Worst job ever lol. I live in the town directly south and i always found it odd that we had a missile in one of our parks when we didnt have the site in our town.
I didnt even know there was one in Arlington Heights!
Correction the older Chicago park district buildings
Arlington Heights is in Illinois, not a neighborhood of Los Angeles
Kincade Park- Anchorage-Alaska.
🚀💞💞🌲
We had these Nike and Ajax on Long Island NY near my house .
No one knew until 1990s nukes there.
Just wait for the Adidas bases SMH
I know countless Marines are drooling at the sight of a buffet 🤤🥴🤣. I myself being a former devil dog sit with a towel under my chin while watching this video myself 🍽️🤧😜
The missile knows where it is by knowing where it isn’t. Heard it all before.
As a kid I played around in one of the former-Nike-sites-turned-park in Westlake Ohio (tri city park) my uncle would tell me stories about how it was a missile base before and maybe they left some behind and I could find them, searched all over, never found them - hehe oh well I guess he pulled a fast one on me - irony is he worked for NASA at the time - soooo maybe he knew something I didn’t 😂
My hometown Nike site hasn’t been changed since it was built and houses animal labs..
How about a show about the one Nike base thats a museum and blast doors open and missles spin up. Growing up in the 80s, we did not have Nike in Kansas. We had big boys ICBMs, I think. Thank you. Mill Valley CALIFORNIA is last one.
There were Nike bases in Kansas. There is one at Ft Leavenworth that I’ve been to, as well as others around the KC area.
@miked451 I was unaware. Thank you. I knew we had 16 silos here around McConnell AFB that held ICBMS? By the time i went active duty AF they were just filled in holes.
And now they make trainers
9/11 proved these sites should have been maintained and reequipped with more capable systems!! getting rid of these sites was a FUCK UP FOR THE AGES!!!!
Oooo
Wow I had no idea the shoe company used to make missiles.
I am like number 165
Anything to obstruct this. All stalking thieves
My dad was stationed here at the one in Milwaukee, they demolished it at its now the summer fest grounds
There's still a few of the original buildings left, one is the main office for Summerfest (a ticket office, now, I believe) and another was turned into a large concession building. Really cool bit of history!