Hamburg Park Was Once Military Missile Base

It's pretty easy to forget how deep the roots of Western New York run in America's history. As we go around the region living our daily lives, there is a deep legacy of America right here in the 716, and we often just glide by. Especially this year, as several Buffalo area landmarks are celebrating major historical milestones, looking back at the past is a good way to help us make better decisions in the future.

The Erie Canal, for example, which helped to open America for western expansion, turns 200 this year. The Buffalo Zoo, America's third-oldest zoo, is turning 150, and there are countless other stories to be told from the region.

One of those stories sits underneath a park in Hamburg, New York, that was key in helping keep us all safe during the height of the Cold War.

Western New York Park Was Once a US Military Missile Base

With a few pieces of this history still standing above ground, the land hosts Town of Hamburg Ice Arena, the Hamburg Highway Department, South Towns BMX, and a huge park full of baseball, soccer, and lacrosse fields, was once a huge United States Army Missile Base that helped to protect the northern border of America from a potential attack from Russia in the 1950s and 1960s.

The US Army-Air Defense Command housed NIKE Missiles in Hamburg, New York, part of the Niagara Falls–Buffalo Defense Area. Missile Base BU-52 hosted 60 supersonic NIKE Ajax surface-to-air missiles that spread across 24 different missile launchers, along with several radar systems.

The missile launcher site and radar station, called an Integrated Fire Control (IFC), was part of a sprawling complex along Lakeview Road in Hamburg.

The Army, and later the United States Air Force, operated several NIKE Missile bases around Western New York until the system was retired in 1974. In addition to the Hamburg site, there were missile bases along Ransom Creek in Clarence, on Pavement Road in Lancaster, near Cazenovia Creek in Orchard Park, off Whitehaven Road on Grand Island, and other sites.

You can check out a few pictures of what's left of the NIKE base below, along with some historical pictures from the Department of Defense.