Photo above: Historic photo of a visitors inside the command center for one of the Missile Silos. Courtesy National Park Service. Right: The Minuteman Missile Historic Site Visitor Center at night. Courtesy National Park Service/HDR.

Minuteman Missile NHS Then

Well, at first it was nothing but prairie with buffalo and Native Americans living their nomadic life across the plains. However, if we are talking about how the Minuteman Missile became developed and sunk into the ground, it definitely seems an incongruous use, even if necessary due to the bastardination of the world to the point of the Cold War.

Through the era after World War II, there were various hot spots across the world that were indicative of how a former ally, the Soviet Union, had again broken away from western nations. The construction of the Berlin Wall. The development of missile systems capable of crossing the North Pole from Russia and hitting U.S. cities. The response by the United States was to develop the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System. Construction began in September 1961. At one time, beginning in 1963, the USA had 15 control facilities and 150 missile silos in western South Dakota alone. Across the remainder of the plains, multiply. Approaching one thousand.

Photo above: Exterior Building and Fence at the Delta-01 Silo Site. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: View of the sign of the entrance to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center, 2024, America's Best History.

Minuteman Missile NHS Now

Today, silos still exist in many states, but none in South Dakota. The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site presents an example of two control facilities, as well as a history of the program through film and exhibits. This was a time in history when children had drills to hide under their desks if an attack were made. Doubtful that strategy would have worked. Today, we are not exempt from such possibilities, and nuclear missiles are now available to other nations, most friendly, but several not.

It can only be hoped that a rational nation would not send such a missile as they would be destroyed in retaliation as well. It is rogue nations or individuals who present as much of a worry, which is why there is such a priority to deny states such as Iran from developing such weapons.

Minute Walk in History

As the Cold War continued the escalation of weapons between the Soviet Union and the USA, inter-ballistic rockets that could reach both countries were developed and deployed. In the USA, this would be in sparsely populated states near the Canadian border. Take a walk through the site of prairies, missile silos, and a very good museum that tells the story of this harrowing time. All silos have been destroyed in South Dakota; others still remain.