Delta 1: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, National Park Service

Launch Control Facility Delta-01 occupies an open, grassy tract of land on the west side of Jackson County Road CS 23A, approximately one half mile north of Interstate Highway 90. The landscape is part of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which consists of two separate tracts in South Dakota. Delta-01 served as the control facility for the Launch Site Delta-09, ten miles away. These are the only two remaining fragments of what was once a larger, regional landscape. The Delta-01 site consists of 6.4 acres of land with approximately 1.9 acres located inside the security fence. It is located in a rural setting and surrounded by prairie ranch land. The access road is an improved gravel road, and the adjacent landscape is open agricultural land used for pasture. The predominant vegetation is a mix of native grasses. Several small agricultural outbuildings are located to the east of the site, and Interstate 90 and a billboard are visible to the south. The landscape is nationally significant during the period 1962 to 1993, beginning with activation of the missiles and continuing through U.S. Air Force occupation until the site was deactivated. It is significant for its military associations during that time, particularly with regard to the Cold War and missile technology. The facility was the first solid-fueled and first remote-launch intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) facility, representing a dramatic advance in missile design. The missile site construction was supervised by the Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office, established in response to the Cold War era. Launch Control Facility Delta-01 was on continuous alert for nearly three decades, from 1964 until 1991. During the Minuteman II period of activity, the two sites were connected by a buried cable network and operated as part of the larger unit known as Delta Flight, headquartered at the Ellsworth Air Force Base. When Delta-01 was active, ten Air Force personnel were on duty twenty-four hours of every day of the year. This included the officers as well as security guards, a cook, facility manager, and maintenance persons. The cultural landscape still contains temporary living quarters and support facilities for those who lived and worked at the facility. Following its deactivation, the U.S. Air Force and National Park Service (NPS) selected the Delta-01 site for preservation as one of the few launch control facilities that has not been significantly altered. The buildings, landscape features, and circulation patterns preserve the human requirements that a complex technological missile defense system required. Delta-01 includes twenty-three contributing resources, illustrating the technological and military aims of the Launch Control Facility, as well as the features that define everyday life. A chain-link security fence, topped with strands of barbed wire, encloses the site's buildings and structures. Public access is permitted only as part of NPS-escorted tours in order to reduce negative impacts to the landscape and its resources.

Delta 1: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, National Park Service

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