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Eagle River, Anchorage

Anchorage metropolitan areaPopulated places in Anchorage, Alaska
Eagle River, Alaska Aerial
Eagle River, Alaska Aerial

Eagle River is a community within the Municipality of Anchorage situated on the Eagle River, for which it is named, between Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and Chugach State Park in the Chugach Mountains. Its ZIP code is 99577. Settled by homesteaders, Eagle River has been annexed to the Municipality of Anchorage since the 1970s—a relationship that is, at times, complicated. On the one hand, Eagle River functions as an Anchorage suburb--many Eagle River residents work, shop, and participate in community life in the Anchorage Bowl. On the other hand, the community is itself a significant business hub between Wasilla and Anchorage, offering shopping, restaurants, recreation and employment. Much of the community is made up of residents from nearby Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Secession efforts have from time to time gained traction by residents who would like Eagle River legally regarded as a separate community. Eagle River also has a close relationship with its neighboring community to the north, Chugiak, with which it shares some history. If Eagle River were not part of the Municipality of Anchorage, it would be classified as one of the five largest cities in Alaska.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Eagle River, Anchorage (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Eagle River, Anchorage
Monte Road,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 61.321388888889 ° E -149.56777777778 °
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Address

Monte Road 16942
99577 , Birch Hills Terrace
Alaska, United States
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Eagle River, Alaska Aerial
Eagle River, Alaska Aerial
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Nearby Places

Site Summit
Site Summit

The Nike Site Summit (or just Site Summit) is a historic military installation of the United States Army in Anchorage Borough, Alaska. The site, located in the Chugach Mountains overlooking Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, is the location of one of the best-preserved surviving Nike-Hercules missile installations in the state. The site's structures include a battery control area, a missile launch area, and several magazines. Units of the 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, USARAL Artillery Group, United States Army Alaska, would have garrisoned the site. The site was built in 1957-58 and equipped with missiles in 1959. The site was in active service defending the United States from the threat of Soviet air strikes until it was decommissioned in 1979, after which sensitive militarily equipment (including missiles, radar equipment, and launch control equipment) was removed. The U.S. Army maintained the site into the 1980s before abandoning it. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. A local non-profit group, Friends of Nike Site Summit, is actively attempting to preserve the site.Site Summit was one of 145 Nike-Hercules sites that were built as a part of the defense network that protected the United States during the Cold War. In 1959–60, eight Nike missile sites were constructed in Alaska. The Nike sites in Alaska, including Site Summit, served a vital defense role due to their location—being between the Soviet Union and continental United States. Site Summit performed live fire tests of its Nike-Hercules missiles between 1960 and 1963, before the launches became dangerous due to the growing population of Anchorage. The Nike-Hercules missile, the United States military's first anti-aircraft missile capable of being equipped with nuclear warheads, was a formidable defense weapon. The United States’ Nike-Hercules sites were created in response to the rising possibility of nuclear attack by Soviet bombers. Operation of Nike-Hercules sites such as Site Summit required 125 personnel. Despite the ability of Nike missiles, the advent of intercontinental missiles quickly made the Nike-Hercules missiles obsolete. Nike-Hercules sites began closing in 1965 and all Nike-Hercules sites had been decommissioned by 1975 except ones in Alaska and Florida—Site Summit in Anchorage and the Nike-Hercules site in Key West were the last two sites to close in 1979.Friends of Nike Site Summit partnered with multiple state agencies in 2009 in order to restore the site. After three years of restoration, guided tours began in the summer of 2012.