A Short History of the Station
In 1956 the US Air Force leased a small plot of land on top of Mount Baldhead from the Village of Saugatuck in exchange for rebuilding the wooden steps and planting vegetation to stabilize the dune. Two years later the radar tower began sending data to the 781st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron in Battle Creek. In 1963 the Air Force upgraded the station’s equipment; to protect the new antenna they installed the fiberglass dome we see today. The tower stands 70 feet high and the white dome has a diameter of 26 feet.
The SAGE system was soon phased out and the tower was deactivated in 1968. When the land reverted to Saugatuck the village purchased the tower, building, and equipment for $250. Only one other station like it remains intact!
Displaying a lighted star on Mount Baldhead has been a winter tradition in the Saugatuck-Douglas area since the 1950s when local merchants placed the first one on the steps overlooking the Kalamazoo River. After the village bought the tower the star had a new home.
The equipment building received minimal care for decades, so the village eventually started planning to demolish it. At the same time, Chuck Gustafson and a handful of other concerned citizens began working to raise the community’s awareness of the site’s history. Interest in the radar station began to grow, culminating in the site’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
A group of residents continues to work on cleaning up the site in hopes of making the building available for public access. The City of Saugatuck has also been negotiating with a company that would like to use the tower to improve local cell phone service.
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