Atomic Cannon (In Transition)

Junction City, Kansas

Junction City's Atomic Cannon has been on display high atop a bluff in "Freedom Park" since May 1975. A switchback trail leads up to the weedy summit, past a tank and smaller, rusting pieces of artillery. The climb is invigorating.

The cannon, built in the 1950s, was designed to hurl a nuclear shell far enough so that it would vaporize an enemy without vaporizing itself. The gun sits alone on its carriage, without the dual-end transporter trucks that gave the cannon the ability to "shoot-and-scoot."

The Atomic Cannon at Freedom Park has a display shell in its breach, ready to loft toward... where? The cannon could throw a shell 20 miles, so we placed ground zero southwest and just shy of the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene (Ike was a big supporter of atomic artillery).

We later learned that the cannon was in fact carefully aimed at the house of Jack Lacy, a Geary County executive who worked to bring the cannon to Junction City. The targeting was meant as a compliment.

Soon after the cannon's arrival, the U.S. government gave the land at Freedom Park to Geary County. Its officials told us that the park was currently closed for maintenance, but that they hoped to reopen it to the public later in 2020 (and as the pandemic drags on in 2021, we assume any reopening is delayed).