[CPEO-MEF] FORMER SITES: Nike Site, Needham, MA

[Lenny Siegel]

Needham History: Town was ready to take on the Soviets…almost


By Gloria Greis
Quincy Patriot-Edger (MA)
February 18, 2020 
 
 
 
There has been much discussion this week about possible future uses for the land on Pine Street, known as the Nike Site. The back-story is that Needham (Needham!) once hosted a ‘top-secret’ surface-to-air missile installation intended to deflect a potential Soviet air attack.

Following the Second World War, the main threat to US security came from our former ally, the Soviet Union. Apart from their expansion into Europe, it became clear by 1947 that the Soviets had bombers that could range well into US territory; this necessitated a new deployment of anti-aircraft defenses, this time to defend our own borders.

The first anti-aircraft installation in Needham was built in 1951, on the corner of Gould St. and Highland Avenue, now a part of Muzi Ford’s lot. Needham was one of eleven batteries that formed a defensive ring around Boston and Cambridge, and the defense-research installations that were located there.

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For the entire article, see
https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20200218/needham-history-town-was-ready-to-take-on-sovietsalmost

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org