Fort Tilden is one of the most forgotten places in New York
Courtesy of Katie Chao and Ben Muessig from Wikimedia Commons: Fort Tilden, located in the Queens borough of New York, was used a defense for the US Army to store their weapons during the Cold War.

Fort Tilden

Another defense that was used to protect soldiers and civilians from the Cold War hostilities was Fort Tilden, which is in the Queens borough of New York (40°33’42.2″N 73°53’43.2″W). This base was established in 1917, as a “harbor defense of New York.”[1] In the Fort Tilden guidebook, Christina Selvek wrote that Fort Tilden was originally an “emergency civilian housing for returning World War II veterans and their families”[2]. Until December 1950, this fort was reactivated as a station for soldiers after the “announcement of an installation of a [one-thousand men] battalion intended to train new recruits and provide anti-aircraft protection for New York City.”[3] The battalion was then allocated “as a regular anti-aircraft group” in Fort Tilden, after the Korean War began.[4] After the preparation for possible raids, nearly three hundred residential “veterans and families” were required to evacuate, so the “battalion” could prepare for battles in “early spring of 1951.”[5] Selvek affirms that the rising Cold War and start of the Korean War provoked apprehension “over the coastal defenses of New York City” because of where the veterans and families will live and how citizens will survive the global hostilities.[6] In 1955, the Army assembled the “Nike missile site NY-49,” which is one of the “Nike missile sites in the New York City,” in order to protect themselves further from the global dangers.[7] Fort Tilden not only served as a location to store weapons and the missile system, but it was a training service for the Army and held apartments for veterans who need homes.[8] Selvek presented her guidebook of Fort Tilden to showcase the forgotten history of how this base stored weapons to protect New Yorkers, especially veterans, from the Cold War.

[1] Selvek, Christina and John Auwaerter, “Cultural Landscape Report for Fort Tilden,” EFU.EDU, 1

[2] Selvek, Christina and John Auwaerter, “Cultural Landscape Report for Fort Tilden,” EFU.EDU, 42

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Selvek, Christina and John Auwaerter. “Cultural Landscape Report for Fort Tilden,” EFU.EDU, 99

[8] Selvek, Christina and John Auwaerter. “Cultural Landscape Report for Fort Tilden,” EFU.EDU, 43

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