HISTORY - Page 16
This temporary element attached to the use of
the structure left the way open to continuous
suggestion of sites for operation. In fact,
recommendations were being made for a period
of 20 months. Some of the places considered
included the Chrysler San Leandro, California
Plant; Michoud Ordnance Plant, New Orleans,
Louisiana, where Chrysler had an operation
during World War II; and Limestone Cave near
Nashville, Tennessee. Finally, on 31 October 1957,
NIRAP was selected as the permanent production
site, and the installation was renamed the
Michigan Ordnance Missile Plant [under the
Chrysler Corporation Missile Division banner].
This gave Chrysler 1.649 million square feet of
space that could be devoted to manufacturing
and 120,000 square feet of administrative
space
22
.
Facilities, Redstone Arsenal
Construction of missile development facilities at
Redstone also caused considerable attention. As
earlier mentioned, existing facilities at the
arsenal had been a major factor in its selection
as the site to develop the IRBM. This situation had
not come about over¬night, nor were the
facilities, as existed in 1956, considered adequate
to accomplish the task at hand.
Buildup for missile
development programs at
Redstone actually started in
1950 when the Chief of
Ordnance selected the site
because it appeared to lend itself to guided
missile research programs. This decision was
quite appropriate in that year, but the facilities
had been built during war time, with only a five-
year life expectancy. Buildings that had aided
Redstone's wartime chemical mission had been
rehabilitated
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22. Msg, COFORD to ABMA, 31 Oct 57, cited in AOMC Ball Msl Ref Book, subj: JUP Chronology. 23. J. G. Zierdt, Chf, ABMA
Cont Off, 28 Apr 56, subj: FY 57 MCA Const in the JUP Prog, in ABMA Ref Book, subj: Facil, MCA, Hist Off files.