Atlas D Missile Site A-1

The ground east of here was Army land before it was Air Force land. The Nebraska Ordnance Plant, 17,250 acres, made bombs, boosters and shells from 1942 and again for the Korean War from 1950 to 1956. In 1959 the Army declared it excess, and the Air Force built its Atlas site on 2,000 acres. The University of Nebraska bought about 9,600 acres in 1962 for an agricultural research center. The explosives work left soil and groundwater fouled with RDX and the degreaser TCE, and the former plant was listed as a Superfund site on August 30, 1990.

What the plaque says

Atlas D Missile Site A-1 During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in October 1957. A perceived "missile gap" led to the massive construction of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) sites in the United States in the early 1960s. The Atlas was America's first ICBM. The 549th Strategic Missile Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha was tasked with deploying the Atlas D at three sites: A-1 at Mead, A-2 at Arlington, and A-3 at Missouri Valley, Iowa. The sites consisted of a launch operations building, three launch and service buildings, two warhead storage magazines, and associated generating and communications facilities. The 103-foot by 133-foot launch and service buildings of reinforced concrete contained the missile bays. To launch a missile, the roof of the bay was pulled back and the 83-foot-tall, liquid-fueled rocket was raised upright. The Atlas had a range of 10,360 miles. The launch complex located east of here was completed in July 1960 and deactivated in October 1964. Today, it is a military training site for the Nebraska National Guard. Nebraska Army National Guard Nebraska State Historical Society, 2016

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum — 14 mi
  Two hangar-sized halls beside I-80 near Ashland holding the bombers and reconnaissance planes of the command that ran America's nuclear force from Offutt, south of Omaha, from 1948 to 1992.

More markers nearby

• Atlas D Missile Site A-1 — 2.2 mi
• The Yutan Oto Indian Village — 5.5 mi
• The Armour and Company Icehouse — 6.5 mi
• Oto Indians — 7.1 mi