National historic places named

A former Air Force missile facility in Griggs County, a homestead in Hettinger County, and a farmstead in Pembina County are three North Dakota properties that have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is the federal government’s list of properties it considers worthy of preservation and recognition.

The Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility in Griggs County is significant as a remnant of the Cold War and North Dakota’s role during those nearly 50 years of conflict and confrontation. Oscar-Zero was an integral part of the Minuteman missile system built in the 1960s, one of 15 MAFs associated with Grand Forks Air Force Base Wing VI (the last missile wing formed by the Air Force), and the control center for 10 unmanned missile launch facilities. Originally armed with Minuteman II ICBMs, it was upgraded in the early 1970s to accommodate Minuteman III missiles. In accordance with the arms reduction treaty (START), the Grand Forks missile wing was deactivated in the late 1990s. The Oscar-Zero facility is now managed by the State Historical Society of North Dakota to be preserved and developed as historical interpretation sites. The State Historical Society hopes to be able to open the site to the public in July 2009.

Tags: oscar zero, cold war, history