This is the second in a series of blog posts celebrating American Archives Month 2016, using King County records to tell stories on Washington state’s theme of “We Love Parks.” For more, start with our first post in the series, “Athletes with Disabilities: King County Parks as a Recreation Pioneer.”

At the center of the Seattle Defense Area, King County was home to at least seven Nike missile installations between 1956 and 1974, most of which became county or city parks after decommissioning. The former Nike sites at Cougar Mountain and Lake Youngs were both taken over by King County Parks and developed into recreational areas for the benefit of the public.

Read more: From Coal to the Cold War: Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlife Park’s Former Nike Missile Sites