Titan Missile

In 1962, Kimball marked its place in history when construction began on a vast complex of Minuteman Missile silos. Kimball is the center of the largest complex of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in the world, with about 200 Minuteman III ICBMs in silos in the tri-state area.

In 1968, Kimball received its own Titan I Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and erected it in Gotte Park.

The Titan I was designated as HGM-25C by the Air Force. The HGM designates a surface launched missile for above ground battle.

The Titan I was fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. The missile was stored in a hardened silo and was raised to the surface for launch, being fueled while being raised. The process took about 30 minutes. The first base was activated in early 1962. The last missile was removed from service in late 1965 or early 1966. The missile in Kimball entered and left service from a silo near Chico, California. Titan I was based in Denver with 18 missiles, Rapid City, Moses Lake Wash, Mountain Home Idaho, and Marsyville, California each with 9 missiles.

When deactivated, the sites were abandoned, and returned to the original property owners. Treaty obligations today require the site to be destroyed.

The missile weighed 221,500 lbs. at launch. Stage I generated 430,000lbs of thrust and stage II 80,000lbs. The engines were manufactured by Aerojet, then a division of General Tire Co. The missile in Kimball was built in Denver, Colorado and cost approximately 1.5 million.