At the height of the Cold War, a dozen anti-aircraft missile sites were located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, including six in South Jersey, the PH command center for the entire grouping among them. The sites contained either conventional weaponry, nuclear weapons or both. This is a rough map I found online that marks the sites. I would like to create something similar, focusing on South Jersey, marking the command centers and launch sites, which, because of technology at the time, had to be located anywhere from a half-mile to a few miles away.
About 250 such sites were established across the United States. These sites began to be decommissioned by the early 1970s, as the United States found better ways (aka, more powerful missile systems) to protect its shores, and many of the sites have subsequently been demolished and turned over to private interests, which have largely turned them into suburbia.
The site in Marlton, N.J., is now the location of a housing development, located across from a high school. I'm still researching, but I believe the nuclear-warhead Berlin/Clementon site (actually Gloucester Township), which sits amid several fairly new strip malls, remains largely undeveloped. The Swedesboro (actually Woolwich Township) site just got the go-ahead to be developed. I thought I read it would be a small "smart growth" site, but I am not sure.
Always eager to hear suggestions as I begin this project.
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