Nike Missile Site
From Staples High Wiki
The Nike Missile Site was used by the U.S. Military as part of Project Nike, which intended to implement a last-resort line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system to defend major cities (in this case, New York City) in the case of a Soviet nuclear or conventional strike in which Air Force interceptors failed to eliminate the Soviet strike aircraft. The designation for this site was BR-73. There were actually two sites: one (on North Avenue) was where the missiles were stored and launched from, and the other (on Bayberry Lane) was the control center. The North Avenue site contained many buildings, including barracks, and at least one missile silo. The Bayberry Lane site contained offices and radar towers.
Nike missiles were equipped with the capability to utilize both nuclear (W-31) and conventional warheads.
Nike missile launching and control sites are also present in Ansonia,West Haven, Milford, Fairfield, Monroe, East Windsor, Manchester, Portland, Cromwell, Plainville and Avon.
When the town took control of the sites, it began to use them for various purposes. The Bayberry Lane site is the present home of the Rolnick Observatory, and is the transmission site for WWPT-FM. The North Avenue site was used as the town's "Leaf and Brush Site" for a while, and as a firefighter training center. It was also the home of "Robo", the Staples Security Guard. Starting in 1999, the town started to have all the buildings destroyed and built the current Bedford Middle School.
