Controversy. Intrigue. Clandestine deliveries. Perpetually beaming security floodlights that made midnight seem like noon. A 24/7 armed Military Police surveilling presence. WWII had come to an end. Nuclear warfare was in its infancy, and the Cold War had just begun.
It was February 1955 when over 1,100 acres at the north end of the then-Seneca Ordnance Depot were transferred to the NY District of the Army Corps of Engineers for construction of a new munitions storage facility. By July 1956 the North Depot Activity Area was ready for use with numerous barracks, maintenance, machine, inspection, and administration buildings, and 64 munition storage igloos. Its moniker would evolve a couple more times until 1957 when the area would become known simply as the “Q.”
A total of 13 “Q” areas would come into existence in the United States alone. In 1958, the local “Q” would begin receiving special weapons via a secreted rear entrance in the northern most portion of the original Depot, now within Deer Haven Park and visible while on escorted tour; however, then out........