Visitor Center Exhibits explore the Cold War world of Minuteman Missiles

Project at a Glance: Design, fabricate, and install museum exhibits for New Park Unit

Start Date: 2010
Completion: 2016
Contractor: Krister Olmon, Inc. and Pacific Studio
Project Cost: $698,276

Results: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site presents an opportunity for visitors to explore a peaceful piece of prairie that once held the power to destroy the world. From a grassy overlook off I-90 the new interpretive center for Minuteman Missile National Historic Site provides a public venue for examining the challenges and paradoxes of Cold War: the technology that made it possible; the service men and women who waged it; the citizens near and far who feared the worst, yet heeded the call for civil defense; and the statesmen at home and abroad who led the world to the brink and back, with near misses, proxy wars, and ultimately, hard-won agreements for partial disarmament. In a war that turned the home front into the frontline, no one escaped the grip of the Cold War. As a standoff between two politically opposed superpowers, the Cold War may be over, but the nuclear weapons that fueled it, and the enduring threat they pose, remain a permanent part of our world. Because of them, we are forever “a different country,” in the words of nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Concurrent with the design and construction of the visitor center completed in 2014, exhibit design began, focused first on determining themes and perspective in order to develop the best approach for the space available. Completed in 2016, these exhibits lead visitors to make intellectual and emotional connections between the park’s exhibits and their own experiences so that they understand, appreciate, and help preserve the park’s resources.