Nekoma Safeguard Missile Defense Complex, North Dakota

A massive abandoned missile defense complex located near the center of the continent, in North Dakota, represents the pinnacle of a series of attempts to defend the nation’s ICBMs from nuclear attack. This site, known as the Stanley R. Mickelson Safeguard Complex, was the heart of an anti-ballistic missile project, built to defend other missiles in the Dakotas. It involved a few dozen small missiles, in five nearby missile fields, that would be shot at incoming missiles, before they could destroy our bigger missiles. If it proved effective, the system could hypothetically be scaled up protect the rest of the nation’s ICBM silos, however it did not. International treaties terminated other programs, leaving just this one, which became operational in late 1975. It was closed after being de-funded by Congress in early 1976. It is now one of the most dramatic cold war monuments in the country, with its concrete remnants, including a monolithic radar pyramid, and rows of concrete stubs, resembling ancient Egypt in form and scale. The program cost around $2 billion. After most of its operational components were destroyed over the following decades, this site was sold at auction for $530,000, in 2012. It was purchased by the Spring Creek Hutterite Colony of Forbes, North Dakota. In 2020, portions of the site, including the pyramid, were sold to a local county entity, which hopes to turn it into a historic site.