Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center — Attraction in Philip

This is a very interesting subject for a National Historic Site, and a subject as contentious as the Cold War was treated with the utmost in balance, perspective, and respect by the National Park Service. My friend and I went through the visitor center twice over just to make sure we caught everything, very well done. If short on time, one might skip the Delta-09 site, which is a decommissioned missile silo with a glass canopy and mock missile inside. It is visually interesting and apparently accurate with the same barbed chain link fence surrounding the site, but being several miles away, possibly backtracking as we did might not be in everybody's road trip plans.

Do try to make time for getting to the visitor center early to reserve a spot with the guided tour of the Delta-01 command center for the area's Delta missiles. Each missile flight of Minuteman ICBMs were controlled by a command center designated by a letter and number 1. Hence, for the Delta flight, Delta-01 command center controlled missiles Delta-02, Delta-03, and so on scattered around this area of South Dakota. In any case, the tours are small, so get tickets early, and be prepared for some excellent commentary from rangers who are most all former US Air Force in the ICBM program. Our ranger covered the emotions on site in the Cold War days, from the mundane to the intense.

In any case, it is a well done historic site that deserves some attention, and is just near the eastern entrance of Badlands National Park. For more ICBM info and silo tour, check out the South Dakota Air and Space Museum attached to Ellsworth Air Force base in...

I was deeply moved by this site, in that I was overwhelmed with grief, and sadness, and fear, knowing that weaponry capable of destroying life on great portions of our planet were nearly launched, or employed by accident over a dozen times. The implications of the damage already done environmentally by the creation and testing of nuclear weapons is staggering. And despite all that, I realized I had a measure of disquieted relief in that we continue to have missiles even today, ironically, as a deterrent to nuclear war. The site seemed to be thorough in its depiction of the realities and consequences of having these weapons of mass destruction, though one wonders what remains hidden from us, as we know the mechanisms of war are highly classified. I also shudder to think of the power a president has, and with the deeply divided populace these last 7 years, I find myself frightened at the capacity for annihilation we have created. After touring South Dakota, an intensely beautiful state full of natural wonders, nearly pristine wild areas, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, I found the Minuteman site jarring, troubling, and depressing, though having emotional reactions to pictures reminding me of when we had fallout shelters and woefully inadequate drills at school where we hid under our desks, is an appropriate response. Prepare to be confronted, deeply troubled, and perhaps frightened. It is definitely a place...

We stopped here on a whim, after the Badlands NP, and it ended up being our favorite stop of our whole trip. The museum isn't very large, but it is free and is curated by some very friendly and knowledgeable people. The gentlemen that we talked to were both former military, and one was a former operator of the Minuteman Missiles only a few miles from this location. He was delighted to tell us everything we were willing to hear about the operation and history of the missiles, and encouraged us to ask more questions if we had them. The museum exhibits are as professional and well curated as you can expect from a National Parks Museum. You can walk through it relatively quickly, but when you include the film that they run, you can spend 45 minutes to an hour walking through the interactive exhibits. They also offer a very eclectic gift shop (fantastic merch by the way), and have clean restrooms as well. There are other facilities that you can tour, actual missile sites, but currently (January 2022) the only one that is open is the missile launch site, as the control bunker is undergoing restoration efforts.

If you need a bathroom stop, give this museum a try. It's a great place to stretch your legs and learn some apocalyptic history. It is...