Tuesday, December 12, 2017
The Rocket Factory was constructed in the 1950s and during the short decade in which it was operational, it contributed significantly to the course of world history. It was decommissioned shortly afterward, in the late 1960s. Of the remaining buildings, the steel frame structures were used for testing the fuel delivery systems and gathering data. The resultant data was sent back to a reinforced bunker through a short tunnel which connected the buildings. Inside the bunkers, the data was collected and analyzed. In the case of the main control bunker, there are two longer tunnels about 100 yards in length, which connect to two separate large test pads for the rockets. The tunnels themselves are featureless rectangular concrete tubes and one is a dead end, the other lets out at the base of one of the pads. Unfortunately, the control bunker has been completely gutted and drywall has replaced the wall of monitors and other electronics which once decorated the space properly. When you consider the fact that this site was decommissioned 50 years ago and that there's still any salvageable material left, we consider ourselves fortunate that we found anything left here at all.
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Begin Historic Photos
End Historic Photos
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
These bunkers were used to store explosives and other munitions during the Cold War. A major Saint Louis business owns it and has an already well secluded location even more well secured. We still managed to find a way in and after hiking for about 8 miles or more, we found a few bunkers. On our way out, we were supposed to take the scenic route and end up in the thick of bunkerland, but we took a wrong turn. At that point it was already late, so we decided to make it a point to return and find the rest some day.
On the way to the bunkers atop a cliff with an incredible view of the hilly landscape, we stumbled across a really freaking old structure in the woods complete with stone steps and a couple water wells. The walls were very rough hewn stone and clearly very old. Then, down the road, we entered a large limestone mine.
This was a huge limestone mine.
The business end of a concrete lion. The date of construction is 1909. "Relatives" of this lion can be found on the gates which flank either side of Delmar on the U-City Loop.
