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Texas tower, off Cape Cod, Mass., 1955

Collection Type

  • Photography

Date

1955

GUSN

GUSN-194081

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Description

This rig was an artificial island that served as offshore housing for an early warning radar station for the Continental Air Defense Command. Built in Quincy, it was stationed about 100 miles east of Cape Cod. The five man-made islands in this system, covering 1,000 miles of the eastern seaboard, were called "Texas Towers" after the Gulf of Mexico oil rigs on which their design was based. This defense system demonstrates how seriously the government took the threat of attack during the Cold War.

Details

Descriptive Terms

rigs
black-and-white prints (photographs)
photographs

Physical Description

1 photograph

Collection Code

PC044

Collection Name

Verner Reed Photographic Collection, 1950-1972

Reference Code

PC044.TMP.036

Places

Cape Cod (Barnstable county, Massachusetts) [peninsula]
Atlantic Ocean [ocean]

Record Details

Originator

Reed, Verner, 1923-2006 (Photographer)

Material Type

black-and-white prints (photographs)
photographs

Other Organizations

Continental Air Defense Command

Subjects

National defense
Cold War

Accruals Note

Included in the exhibition, A Changing World: New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972.

Description Level

Item

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