Recent Photos of Willmar AFS, MN

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Close-up of the ex-Radar area, circa 2014; former Operations building now removed.  Looking North. 

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Close-up of the ex-Radar area, circa 2014; former Operations building now removed.  Looking East. 

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Close-up of the ex-Radar area, circa 2014; former Operations building now removed.  Looking South.  

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Close-up of the ex-Radar area, circa 2014; former Operations building now removed.  Looking West. 

Main site - looking North


Main site - looking East


Main site - looking South


Main site - looking West


Operations - looking North


Operations - looking East


Operations - looking South


Operations - looking West


Rec Hall - looking South


Housing Annex - looking East

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Photos below by Tom Page; dated 24 September 2021

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Shown here is the area where the barracks (foreground) and the radar towers & operations building (background, right) once stood. [looking northwest] 

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Only the former Multi-Purpose Recreation (MPR) building (shown here) plus a few paved sidewalks remain on site.  The former MPR building is now used for the School of Cosmetology for what is now Ridgewater College.  [looking southeast]

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The following 2003 photos and captions contributed by Mark Morgan, Radomes Staff and WADS Historian


West end of the property looking east across what is now a grassy commons or park. According to the photos from the Kandiyohi County Historical Society, this is roughly the center of the old operations area; the long shed at the extreme right was immediately south of two radar towers and probably housed operations.


This structure is smack in the middle of the complex and is probably the former multi-purpose recreation building for the 721st Radar Squadron (SAGE). In the historic photos it is visible between the radar towers and Foot Lake.


Same building; it now houses the college`s School of Cosmetology.


Another view of the center of the former air force station. According to the information contained in Historical Data of the Aerospace Defense Command (U), 1946-1973 (Ent AFB, CO: Headquarters, Aerospace Defense Command, n.d.), from 1958 through roughly 1960 Willmar AFS had four operational radars although only two towers remain in the post-closure photos.


East end of the Ridgewater College campus, looking west; Foot Lake is to the left. Obviously, there's nothing left of the long-range radar site at this end of the facility.