The Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre and the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site off Interstate 90 south of Philip are collaborating on a new exhibit that will debut next fall (2019).
The new exhibit will focus on the story of establishing the missile field in South Dakota, the Cold War and the present use of the site and surrounding land.
To launch the collaboration, there will be a sneak peek of the new video, “Beneath the Plains: The Minuteman Missile on Alert” Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 7pm CDT, at the Cultural Heritage Center. There is no cost to attend the program. Officials from the museum and Minuteman site will be on hand to talk about the video and the overall exhibit project. The video will be shown over Labor Day weekend at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, where it will serve as the introductory video for visitors to the complex.
The video will explain how, for a full generation, untold numbers of unsuspecting travelers drove right by a portion of the nation’s nuclear arsenal buried beneath the plains of South Dakota. Hidden in plain sight, were underground silos armed with Minuteman missiles—designed to launch at a moment’s notice and capable of achieving speeds exceeding 15,000 miles per hour and striking a target halfway around the world in 30 minutes or less. “Beneath the Plains: The Minuteman Missile on Alert” explores this story with vintage film and TV footage, interviews with historians and the men and women who operated the system in South Dakota and the other missile fields using high-definition cinematography.
State Historical Society Museum director Jay Smith says this will be the first major exhibit at the Cultural Heritage Center where they have worked so closely with a national park site.
Minuteman site superintendent Eric Leonard says they have a small exhibit area at the site and working with the state museum gives them the opportunity to reach out to new audiences who may not know them or the story they preserve.
The Cultural Heritage Center museum is open from 9am-6:30pm CDT Monday through Saturday, and 1-4:30pm CDT on Sundays and most holidays. Call 605-773-3458 for more information about exhibits, special events and upcoming activities or visit history.sd.gov.
The Minuteman National Historic Site is open daily 8am-4pm MDT except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. More information about the park can be found online at nps.gov/mimi or by phone at 605-433-5552.