NIKE Missile Base C-84, East of Quentin Road between LAke Cook & Long Grove Roads, Barrington, Cook County, IL

Significance: Constructed during the Cold War, Nike missile bases were an ever-present reminder to U.S. citizens that the peace gained after World War II was fragile. Following the war, the U.S. Army constructed Nike air defense systems around forty U.S. cities and military installations as protection against air attack by the Soviet Union. At its peak in 1963, the Nike defense system included approximately three hundred batteries in the U.S. All of the bases have been deactivated and many destroyed. This Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documents the role of Nike Missile Base C-84 in the defense of Chicago, Illinois. Base C-84, which was one of 23 Nike installations that comprised the Chicago-Gary Air Defense System, was active from 1956 to 1963. Base C-84 was designed to accommodate Ajax missiles, the first generation of Nike missiles. Due to the size of the missile storage areas and the cost of conversion, the larger and more powerful Nike Hercules missiles were never deployed at Base C-84.
Survey number: HAER IL-116