Hidden in the hills: Inside a Cold War-era missile silo up for sale in Kansas
The 8.5-acre property in Lincoln, Kansas is listed for $1.3 million.
LINCOLN, Kan. (KCTV) - A decommissioned missile silo once used to launch nuclear warheads could be yours, but it’s going to cost you.
Hidden beneath the rolling hills of central Kansas is a property steeped in mystery and rich in Cold War history. Once designed to fend off a nuclear attack, the former Atlas F missile silo is now for sale.
“It’s an insane property,” said realtor Terra Martin. “It’s very much off the grid.”
Martin is the listing agent for the 8.5-acre property in Lincoln, Kansas with an asking price of $1.3 million.
“The equivalent to what they built it for in today’s dollars is $190 million,” Martin said.
Step inside the underground fortress and there’s a noticeable drop in temperature, which consistently ranges between 54 and 62 degrees. There are 2500 square feet of usable space in what was once a control room and living quarters, all of which have been freshly painted.
“There was a kitchen, bedroom, everything was walled off,” Martin said, pointing at different areas of the space. “This is actually one of the original doors.”
Several heavy steel doors lead to different sections of the bunker. The most impressive opens to an 18-story missile silo, with original structural brackets still intact. From the landing, it’s 40 feet up and 140 feet down, “built of pure steel and concrete.”
It’s a dream for thrill seekers, but a nightmare for anyone afraid of heights. Martin said the possibilities are endless.
“You can do a man cave; you could grow mushrooms,” she added. “It could be a wine cellar. It’s a very specific type of buyer, but someone that just has a lot of imagination.”
Built in the early 1960s as a response to Soviet nuclear threats, the Atlas F was the most advanced in the U.S. Air Force’s arsenal at the time. It stood vertically, armed with a warhead more than 250 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
“Nominally, it was supposed to take about 15 minutes after a launch command was received for it to be ready to launch,” said John Gilbert, a retired Air Force colonel and senior science fellow with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
Gilbert worked in a similar Kansas facility in the 60s. He likened it to a James Bond movie but said the working conditions were far from glamorous.
“It was isolated,” he said. “It was noisy. Things tended to smell bad. It was not a real pleasant place.”
The Lincoln site was one of 12 in Kansas alone. It was chosen for its inland location, vacant land and its proximity to reach targets in the Soviet Union.
“Not only did many people in the U.S. think the Soviets were well ahead of us in their missile technology and the number of missiles they had, but this was also right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Gilbert said. “So, [the missiles] were far from Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico but far enough north to hit the Soviet Union.”
Gilbert said the launch facility was staffed 24/7 by a crew of four. But unlike later missiles, the Atlas required a larger maintenance staff because it was only partially fueled while in storage.
“The missile was stored partially fueled and pressurized because the metal skin was so thin if it wasn’t pressurized it would collapse, kind of like a beach ball,” Gilbert explained. “It would have to be raised to the surface, vertically, after opening to large blast doors, and then would be ready to launch after it was fully fueled.”
To the buyer of this property, Gilbert offered a simple assessment.
“They’ll end up owning a unicorn.”
A Cold War relic turned conversation piece with a future as bold as its past.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Martin said.
In total, 72 Atlas F’s were built across the country. The Lincoln silo was decommissioned in 1965. You can view the real estate listing on Zillow.
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.
