'Inside Evesham' Nike Article

As Marlton is an ever-growing community, most residents are unaware of its history. One of the most common unknowns is the fact that Marlton was home to a missile base.

That's right all you young Marlton homeowners, one of more than a dozen New Jersey missile bases was situated right here. And for you Briarwood homeowners, you might be interested to know that a good portion of this missile base resided on the same land that your homes were built.

Nike Missile Battery PH-32 stretched across 35 acres of land on Tomlinson Mill Road between Elmwood and Taunton Lake Road (directly across Cherokee High School). This missile base was one of over 200 Nike Missile bases across the country that served as protection for major cities during the Cold War years.

For a period of eight years, PH-32 was manned 24 hours a day by approximatley 100 men. Now the Briarwood development takes up half of this area while the other half resembles an abandoned junkyard.

In the years following World War II, Nike Missile bases were erected all over the United States. Their mission was to protect major cities from foriegn air attack. PH-32 was designed to defend Philadelphia.

Twelve different missile bases were constructed to protect Philadelphia. Five of these bases were in the South Jersey area while seven other bases were in Pennsylvania. The New Jersey missile bases dedicated to defending Philadelphia were in Lumberton (PH-23/25), Berlin/Clementon (PH-41/43), Pitman (PH-49), Swedesboro (PH-58) and Marlton (PH-32). In all there were 16 Nike Missile bases throughout New Jersey as 11 of these were designed to defend New York.

Nike Missile Battery PH-32 in Marlton was activated July 1, 1955. As was the case with most bases, the site was divided in two sections-the Control Area or the Intergrated Fire Control (IFC) area and the Launch Area.

At the Marlton Nike Missile base the control area and the launch area were just a half mile away from each other. The distance between control and launch area ranged from .5 to 3.5 miles. Some control area and launch areas were in different townships.

A normal IFC consisted of radar, the computer system and missile control. Marlton's IFC contained radars, administration building, barracks and ready room, mess hall, pump house and athletic courts.

PH-32 launch area contained three underground magazines that stored 30 Nike-Ajax missiles (10 apiece). The missiles were stored underground horizontally for safety and raised using large elevators. After they were raised, they were pushed manually by crewmen to the launcher area. Each missile was assembled on the site.

The Nike-Ajax Missile was approximatley 34-feet tall and 4-feet wide. it reached speeds up to 1,600 MPH, altitude of 70,000 feet and ranged 25 miles. The Nike-Ajax carried three fragmentation-type warheads but were unable to shoulder atomic warheads, Thus introducing the Nike-Hercules.

The Nike-Hercules was in development even as the Nike-Ajax Missiles were already being shipped to thier destinations. The Hercules Missile was designed to combat smaller, fasted enemy aircraft. It reached speeds of 3,200 MPH had a maximum altitude of 100,000 feet and was capable of reaching 90 miles. The Hercules had the potential to be armed with atomic warheads and it could quench nuclear-armed aircraft without detonation.

the Marlton Nike Missile Battery was one of several Nike Missile bases that was not upgraded for the Hercules Missile. In 1963, PH-32 was deactivated along with six other Philadelphia-designated sites.

But as the years passed, the number of operational Nike Missile bases steadily decreased. Defense dollars were dedicated to developing more modern defence systems. And the Vietnam War garnerd millitary attention.

The sigining of the SALT I treaty in Moscow in 1972 limited the number of missile with ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) capabillities which included the Nike Missile. By 1974, all Nike Missile were deactivated. No missiles were ever fired from these Nike basesover the two decades of operation.

After PH-32 was deactivated, it was turned over to Burlington County, which used the site as a Civil Defence Control Center, Fire/Rescue/Police Academy and Police Target Range. In the early 1970's, the site was purchased by Evesham Township and all existing buildings were tore down.

In April of 1978, approximatley 20 acres were deeded to the Board of Education-this area contained the launch area. The control area was sold to a developer in the early 1990's who constructed the Briarwood community.

In a DEP Hazardous Waste Management report of September of 1990, John Trela stated,"Considering the relatively low levels of petroleum hydrocarbons detected in the shallow wells and the depth of the public water supply wells, the potential for any health effects as a result of operations at Nike Missile Site PH-32 is remote."

The launch area is still owned by the Board of Education and remains undeveloped. The magazines are still there, except now they are just holes in the ground filled with water and coverd with welded metal. The rest of the area has the look of an abandoned junkyard with stacks of old tires, charred scraps of metal, and large piles of rock and brick.

But interest in preserving or, at least, growing awarness about these old Nike Missile bases is increasing. Recently, SF-88 a San Fransisco Nike Missile base became the nation's only officially restored Nike Missile site. Other sites in Indiana and Florida are on the verge to being restored.

"Historically, these sites can be said to be significant on a local, regional and national level,"said Cold War historian Don Bender, of the New Jersey Nike Missile Site Survey and The Nike History Project. "They obviously were part of the history of the local communites in which they were located.They were part of the air defences of the Philadelphia region (in the case of the Marlton site) and they were components within in what would become by the late 1950's, a complex, nationwide, integrated air defence system."

While Marlton's PH-32 is well beyond preservation, Bender's group is focused on preserving other less-hampered New Jersey Nike sites.

For more information on PH-32 check out http://ph32.place.cc and other websites dedicated to preserving these sites and establishing knowledge in these all-but-forgotten historical landmarks.

Thanks to some phone calls by concerned Marlton residents we learned that we misinformed the public about the former Nike Missile Base in the June issue of Inside Evesham.

The Launch Area of the missile base was never owned by the Board of Education. In a public record it states the launch area was "deeded to the Evesham BOE". This is wrong. The launch area was offerd to the BOE, who declined to accept it.

Also the article stated that the "launch area contained three underground magazines that stored 30 Nike-ajax missiles (10 apiece)". Thanks to a phone call from a former worker at the base, we learned that, contrary to the average Nike missile base, there were only two underground magazines that stored 16 Nike -ajax missiles (8 apiece).