Looking Back: Nike Missile Base

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — The black and white photo from 1957 shows the dedication ceremony for Utica D-06, the Nike missile base in Shelby Township. Two years earlier, the United States Army had leased sections of Spring Hill Farm to build the base. It was one of 15 such bases that ringed Detroit to protect the city from Russian bombers during the Cold War. Construction began in 1955. Missile silos and launchers were installed where the Nature Center is today. The Integrated Fire Control area was located to the east and had multiple radars for tracking incoming bombers and outgoing missiles. By 1956, the site was fully operational and armed with 20 Ajax missiles.  About six years later, the Ajax missiles were replaced with Hercules missiles, which had a better range and more accuracy. One Hercules missile equipped with a nuclear warhead could eliminate a number of bombers whereas an Ajax missile could only take out one bomber at a time. By the mid-1970s, Cold War attack strategies had shifted from bombers to intercontinental ballistic missiles, which rendered both Ajax and Hercules missiles obsolete.

In April 1974, Utica D-06 was deactivated. Silos and underground bunkers were filled in. Buildings and radar towers were demolished. The power building, which was installed in the IFC area when the site was converted to the Hercules missile system, was left standing and is used today by the Shelby Township Parks and Recreation Department for storage. Many concrete pads for radar units can be found in this area. The octagonal concrete footing for the Hercules missile radar tower can be found alongside the power building. Visible too are several barracks’ foundations and the servicemen’s basketball court. The Nike Missile Site is listed on the Michigan State Register of Historic Places.

The color photo, taken in 1974, shows what it looked like shortly before the metal tower was taken down. The building next to it in the photo is still there, along with the steps up into the metal tower, which are mostly overgrown.  The other buildings and concrete towers in the photo are gone too.

— Hilary Davis, Shelby Township Historical Committee