Waukesha, Wisconsin: Nike Missile Base
Now a park, but you can still see the old blast buildings, troop quarters, a circular water reservoir, and a radar tower.
Hillcrest Park
- Address:
- Davidson Ave., Waukesha, WI
- Directions:
- Hillcrest Park is on Davidson Ave. about 1 mile East of the Hwy 164 and E. Main St. interscetion. Nike Battery 74 is located about 1 block East of the Hwy 164 and E. Broadway (Cty Hwy D) intersection.
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Nike Missile Base
Neat Cold War relic.
[t-bird, 01/13/2019]As of at latest this morning, the former guard shack at the entrance to Nike Battery 74 (Missile Park) no longer exists. All that remains to mark the entrance is a gate, some barbed wire, and a "No Trespassing" sign.
[Sarah B, 06/04/2012]We're impressed that the shack lasted as long as it did.
There has never been a timetable on the Cold War Museum presence on the base and fund-raising has just begun on the $300,000 project. Architectural plans were completed only earlier this year. The Powers/Khrushchev visit was an activity of the Midwest chapter, and both are involved with preservation efforts across the country.
The former mess hall is at the entrance while the museum plans call on the expansion of the "blast building" or CQ further to the right. The water reservoir was built after it was closed down.
The launch area still boasts a building to the right of the entrance as well as lighting. The land will soon again be under city control and turn into a hiking park.
[Chris Sturdevant, 09/10/2009]Nike Missile Base
From 1956 to 1964 what is now Hillcrest Park was a Nike Command and Control Center. The actual Ajax and Hercules missiles were located about 1 mile to the South (Nike Battery 74). The site is half of the missile system (it was one of eight missile sites that ringed Milwaukee) that defended the heavy manufacturing plants and residents in Milwaukee and Chicago.
Still on the Hillcrest Park site are blast buildings, troop quarters, a circular water reservoir, and a radar tower. There is also a historical marker that was dedicated in 1988.
In 2005 the sons of Francis Gary Powers (Francis Gary Powers Jr.) and Nikita Khrushchev (Sergei Khrushchev) together visited the Hillside Park site to explore the possibility of creating a Cold War Museum there. Unfortunately their visit did not raise enough money to start the museum. As for where the missiles were located, all that is left is an old guard shack at the entrance. The land has been turned over to the city for a park.
[Mark Bertieri, 03/11/2008]Nearby Offbeat Places
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The remaining structures of Nike Missile Control Site M-74 (operational in the 1950s-60s) are part of a public park, though plans a decade ago to create an indoor Cold War Museum have yet to be realized.