Nike Hercules Missile Battery Site Summit, Mount Gordon Lyon, Anchorage, Anchorage, AK

See also HAER AK-18 for additional documentation.
Significance: Military period of significance: 1959-1979. Site Summit, a former United States Army Nike Hercules missile installation, is one of the most intact examples of American military defense against potentially nuclear airborne missile attacks during the Cold War. Site Summit is nationally significant as a critical component of U.S. military and Cold War history, for playing a key role in national defense, and for its role in operating cutting-edge computer and rocketry technology. It is the only remaining battery of the eight front-line (Alaskan) Nike Hercules batteries that protected U.S. forward military bases. Site Summit's remote mountaintop location accentuates the historical feel of the Site and represents an environment that required unique design adaptations. Site Summit was one of just a few Nike Hercules batteries in the United States that routinely test-fired the Hercules missile. Missile debris can still be found on the slopes surrounding Site Summit.
Survey number: HALS AK-9
Building/structure dates: 1957-1959 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1959-1979 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 96000691