Home All News Former Cold War radar base in Michigan’s UP could become tourism destination

Former Cold War radar base in Michigan’s UP could become tourism destination

Calumet Air Force Station

Cindy Hotnheavy

August 24, 2021

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Calumet Air Force Station (Mohawk, Michigan) Mount Horace Greely

Thanks to Clickondetroit for this:

Forget Disney World and Cedar Point. This abandoned radar base will be all the rage, kids!

EAGLE HARBOR, Mich. – A group of Michigan Tech University alumni have submitted the winning bid for a former U.S. Air Force radar station in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula they hope can become a tourist destination.

The bid last week was $227,000, The Daily Mining Gazette reported, citing a statement from Keweenaw County, which controls the property.

Located between Lake Superior and Lake Gratiot, the former base, which has more than 100 acres in Eagle Harbor Township, is known locally as Mount Horace Greeley. For nearly 40 years, it served as a radar station during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The old Calumet Air Force Station is located on Mount Horace Greeley, 1,540 ft ASL (above sea level), the highest point on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Dates of Use:
1951-1988 US Air Force Radar Station. Station closed as a result of the deactivation of the unit involved.
1988-1999 US Air Force caretaking and environmental closure.
1998-2004 Keweenaw Academy- a juvenile corrections facility.
2004-Present Vacant/Site Clean Up

The winning bidder was identified as Zach Garner of Perry, who said he submitted an offer on behalf of himself and Michigan Tech alumni who are engineers. The school is 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) away in Houghton.

“We are passionate about the Keweenaw Peninsula and respectful of the deep history rooted in the area, including this site itself,” said a letter that accompanied the bid.

The goal is to address any environmental issues at the former base, employ local residents and turn the land into a tourism spot, the letter stated.

The group said it has “dreamt for years about the prospect of turning the aforementioned property into a destination that anyone and everyone can enjoy.”

The former U.S. Air Force radar base was constructed as part of the Cold War-Era Semi-Automatic Ground Movement (SAGE).

When the base was constructed by the USAF, it included a radio site, an operations area, a cantonment area, and three different housing areas. Included in the housing and cantonment, the base offered housing for approximately 45 families, plus dormitories, a dining hall, a fitness center with a bowling alley, medical facilities and a youth center.

Since its abandonment in 2003, however, the site has been vandalized with graffiti, windows and doors have been smashed and destroyed and the County has been trying to sell it.