Epilogue: 50 Years Later - The Demise of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex.
"How long? There is a good chance the prairie pyramid will just sit there forever" - Grand Forks Herald March 22, 1978
The months after the February 10th, 1976 deactivation of the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex in North Dakota - 50 years ago this year - saw a rapid shut-down period.
The arsenal of nuclear-tipped Sprint and Spartan missiles were soon removed from their launch cells while numbers of military personnel declined until August 1976 when only one
commissioned officer was left - a Major Fred Wegner. The Perimeter Acquisition Radar (PAR) site on the other hand was soon to be transferred to the U.S. Air Force. It remains in service
in 2026 as Cavalier Space Force Station.
In the nearby communities of Nekoma and Langdon meanwhile, it was predicted that about 1,000 persons would leave Langdon with 200 leaving Nekoma according to a March 1976 Grand Forks Herald
article. About half of the teaching staff at the Nekoma Public School were let go while the quickly built housing at Cavalier Estates consisting of 300 units and the 200 units at Hilcrest Manor
housing, both located in Langdon, were largely empty by January 1977. By that November, scrap metal specialists were heading into the Missile Site Radar Building to begin metal salvage operations.
In January 1979, Wegner was still on site - although now serving as a Young Adult Conservation Corps administrator. Upon walking through the MSRB before the building was sealed up
he remarked "I took a last walk through the building to make sure nobody was in there before they sealed the door shut...It was almost unbelievable, like there had been an explosion. In what
was once a plush, sophisticated building there were burn marks from cutting torches, loose wires, and pipe and a huge gaping hole where there had been an elevator." The pyramid was
soon re-opened as the U.S. Army reexamined the anti-ballistic missile mission. Inspectors found several feet of water in the lower levels.
We had a chance to visit the pyramid back in 2018 and Wegner's descriptions remained valid. Contrary to some myths about the site, we found no secret government bunker (trust us,
we're state government employees) but instead a great deal of stripped out metal and dark, empty rooms.
As for Langdon and Nekoma, both communities remain with a general focus on agriculture. The Nekoma school has long since closed. In 1981, Nekoma Mayor Bill Verwey would remark
"They say when you lose your school, a town dies, I say as long as you got a bar, you'll survive".
As of April 2026, Nekoma still has a bar.
Video:
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North Dakota's Biggest Junkyard 10:58 (image9) (New Window)
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"Many years after the Nekoma Safeguard site was deactivated, a local television program called Spin toured the site with the last military officer stationed there.
The images are grainy, but the officer explains how the system worked."
Sources:
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Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site
via Facebook (4)
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Photo N040 (top of page) from the video linked above.
