This document is a Section 110 National Register Eligibility Evaluation of The Minuteman ICBM District. The purpose of this study is to provide information for compliance with Section 110 of the NHPA of 1966, as amended, and to support the review of anticipated future activities which will be conducted under Section 106 of the NHPA. The study also serves to identify buildings and structures which historically supported the Minuteman ICBM program; to review previous investigations and perform background research; to document the 39 buildings and structures on California Department of Parks to identify elements of the Minuteman ICBM District; and to evaluate the District and each element for eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The USAF (United States Air Force), Vandenberg AFB, has determined that the Minuteman ICBM District, comprising 39 Cold War era Minuteman facilities, of which only 10 elements are NRHP-eligible, is not eligible for the NRHP due to a lack of historical integrity. The USAF has also determined that 10 of the 39 Minuteman facilities are individually eligible for the NRHP, and the remaining 29 facilities are not individually eligible. This calculates to 28 percent of the resources being contributors, while 72 percent are noncontributors to the District. Thus, the Minuteman ICBM District does not possess sufficient numbers of contributing properties to justify a historic district.
Smallwood et al. (2020) studied this question.