HM-69 Nike Missile Site Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Everglades National Park, National Park Service

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associate, Inc.; John Milner Associates, Inc.

This CLI, originally published in 2011, was updated in 2022 to better reflect existing conditions. The HM-69 Nike Missile Site is one of four Cold War-era Army missile sites in south Florida, with a period of significance defined as 1964-1979. Located within Everglades National Park, the HM-69 Nike Missile Site is the best preserved of the four. It is located on Long Pine Key Road (now known as Research Road) off the Main Park Road, about eight miles from the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center and main park entrance. The Nike Missile Site is in Miami-Dade County near the southern tip of the Florida mainland, in an area of the park referred to as the Hole-in-the-Donut. This approximately 6,600-acre area was farmed for over 50 years before it was acquired by the National Park Service (NPS) in 1975 and is currently the subject of an intensive vegetation restoration project. The Nike Missile Site was developed in the early 1960s during the height of the Cuban missile crisis of the Cold War. After the U.S. discovered Soviet missiles and other offensive weapons in Cuba in 1962, military officials quickly took steps to install air defense missile systems in heretofore unprotected south Florida. After the first wave of panic ended, the temporary sites that had been established were relocated and converted into four permanent defense operations. All Nike sites were designed with three functional areas. The Integrated Fire Control Area contained the radar assemblies and monitoring equipment, as well as generator equipment and a maintenance facility. The Administration Area contained the barracks and training facilities for the soldiers and technicians housed at the site. The Integrated Fire Control and Administration areas were often co-located (as was the case at the HM-69 Nike Missile Site), and collectively referred to as the Control Area. The Launch Area was separated from the Control Area by at least 1,000 yards for safety and visibility, and housed the missile launch pads, missile storage and assembly buildings, ready buildings, and sometimes kennels for the canine troops. Due to the high water table, missiles in south Florida were stored aboveground, unlike Nike batteries in other parts of the country. Construction of the HM-69 Nike Missile Site began in 1964 and was completed by 1965 on land which was was formerly part of the Iori farming operation. The NPS, which had acquired 4,400 acres of the property, transferred approximately 660 acres of land to the Army for the missile site. The two areas of the HM-69 Nike Missile Site cover a total of 29.28 acres of the 660-acre transfer, with the Control Area covering 12.05 acres and the Launch Area covering 17.23 acres. The HM-69 Nike Missile Site was operated as an active missile base until 1979, when the defense site was closed and the land was transferred back to the NPS. Following the period of significance, the site lost some degree of integrity with the removal of radar equipment and the demolition of several buildings. Currently, the Control Area is used by the National Park Service for offices, research, and storage, and the Launch Area is used for storage and interpretation. The site retains sufficient integrity to merit its listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The overall layout of both the Control Area and the Launch Area is still clear, and the largest and most distinctive structures of both areas were retained. Additionally, the earthen berms, road and circulation network, and areas of open turf grass survive from the period of significance.

HM-69 Nike Missile Site Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Everglades National Park, National Park Service

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