Attack on Soviets Not Likely
|
|
Quonset huts at the missile silo site that has been refurbished
by Art Works, near Plattsburg, NY.
Michael Kassner photo
|
On October 1, 1961 the U.S. Air Force activated
the 556th Strategic Missile Squadron. Forming a semi-circle
around Plattsburgh AFB in Upstate New York near the Canadian
border, twelve bases for the ATLAS-F Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile were built. Each base cost $18 million to build, and
consisted of a 52 feet-in-diameter, 174 feet-deep underground
missile silo and a Launch Control Center (LCC). Both were protected
by a 4-foot-thick concrete and metal blast door designed to
survive an indirect nuclear explosion. Each base was located
far enough from the others so that each could independently
survive an enemy strike on any other base. Countless millions
of dollars were spent building and manning the ATLAS-F bases.
Less than five years after the 556th Squadron began service,
Congress cancelled the ATLAS program. All twelve bases were
deactivated on June 25, 1965..
Today, ATLAS-F Base 556-4 near Lake Champlain
has been renamed One Creative Place, home and studio to painter
and landscape photographer Tony L'Esperance who once served
at Plattsburgh AFB as an electronics engineer. After leasing
the base for seven years, Mr. L'Esperance founded Art Works,
a non-profit artists group, in July, 1999. Today, Art Works'
14,000 square feet of heated space houses studios for two architects,
a glassmaker, a land artist, a jewelry maker, an illustrator,
and a painter as well as exhibit space, offices, and a lounge.
"I'm in the process of buying the base," said Mr. L'Esperance,
"my idea is to create a small community of working artists here
who can share some resources and hopefully some interesting
dialogue."
Mr. L'Esperance insists that it is safe to live
and work in a facility which once maintained a thermonuclear
warhead ready for action. According to the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation, Base 556-4, despite the presence
of hazardous trichloroethene in the nine acre base's groundwater,
"is not a potential inactive hazardous waste site." In any case,
everyone at Art Works drinks water piped in from the nearby
town of Willsboro.
Art Works is, for the moment, confined to the
former base's three above-ground buildings--two large quonset
huts and an office which connects them. Unfortunately, the silo
and LCC are inaccessible. "They're full of thousands of gallons
of stagnant water," said Mr. L'Esperance, "It would be a great
space, but it's really expensive to remove all that water."
The underground silo has an interior volume of 363,000 cubic
feet.
Art works still has 4,000 square feet of studio
space available for rent to interested artists. "The space is
rented cheap," says Mr. L'Esperance, "I'm trying to raise money
through grant writing and private donations to help to help
with heat, lights, rents, some equipment, and to help support
this creative community."
For more information about Art Works, contact:
Tony L'Esperance, One Creative Place, Willsboro, NY 12996, tel/fax:
(518) 963-7016, email: ynot@willex.com.
