Hidden History: Long Island's Many Missile Batteries

Though it may not be obvious today, Long Island’s proximity to New York City has made it a key location for military defenses. This was especially evident during the Cold War, when Nike missiles were pointed at the sky from six different locations on Long Island.

The Nike missile batteries, operated in the 1950s through the 1970s, were part of the military’s defense against Soviet attacks. But they weren’t designed to keep Long Island safe.

“There was a network of six different Nike guided missile bases on Long Island,” said Geri Solomon, the assistant dean of Special Collections and the university archivist for Hofstra University. “They were ready to defend New York City against an atomic air attack.”

The sites — located in Lido Beach, Hicksville, Brookville, Brookhaven, Amityville, and Fort Tilden — were part of a ring of defenses that extended into Westchester County and New Jersey as well, designed to prevent attacks on New York. Each Battery had at least three missile platforms that were manned continuously for years. Most were active from the late 1950s to the early 1960s.

Site NY-24, located near Republic Airport on the Amityville/Farmingdale border, was the longest operational site on Long Island. It was in use from 1956 until 1974 — long after other sites were shut down in the 1960s. Today, it is an Army National Guard training site.

After the bases were shut down, the land was given away. Some was given to other federal agencies, or kept as military training sites. Many, however, were sold to local governments or turned into parks.

In Lido Beach, both happened. The site sits across the street from the Town of Hempstead’s Lido Beach Park, and just a few hundred feet from both the Long Beach middle and high schools. The southern part of the property is owned by the school district and is used as a bus depot. Part of the property is now also a nature preserve.

But in Lido, the portion of the property that housed the missiles has not been converted into anything, and is still visible. Satellite photos show the six now-rusted bays where the missiles were stored.

“There were all kinds of safety mechanisms in place,” Solomon said. “But at a similar site in New Jersey, there was a huge explosion in 1958, and civilians and soldiers manning the missiles were killed. They were changing out some sort of guidance system and something went wrong. Between 7 and 10 people were killed. Thankfully, nothing like that ever happened here.”

Most of Long Island’s batteries were disbanded in 1963. But the remains of many of them are still visible today. It’s another part of Long Island’s hidden history.

Photo: Nike missile battery in San Francisco. Courtesy US Army/National Park Service.