Mystery Tower

[gindie]

I have attached a Google Street view of a structure that is located NE of Downtown Dallas. We saw it when driving down I-35E. An overhead view shows it to be on its own piece of ground (not in the parking lot in the picture), with an easment drive to it (but no signage at the end of the drive). It is near a place called Gas Monkey Garage, which I understand to be a restaurant.

I'm more interested in knowing its purpose, rather than who owns it.

Any help/guesses out there?

 

[JoeWras]

I have attached a Google Street view of a structure that is located NE of Downtown Dallas. We saw it when driving down I-35E. An overhead view shows it to be on its own piece of ground (not in the parking lot in the picture), with an easment drive to it (but no signage at the end of the drive). It is near a place called Gas Monkey Garage, which I understand to be a restaurant.

I'm more interested in knowing its purpose, rather than who owns it.

Any help/guesses out there?

Looks like a Nike site. Many of these are kept for historical reasons, but are not operational. The one in Lake County, Illinois is a park!

 

[JoeWras]

Here's a google view from Nike Parkway, Vernon Hills, IL. Look similar? This is from the baseball field parking lot.

 

[braumeister]

Looks to me like an early stage in the construction of a water tower.

 

[Big_Hitter]

gas monkey garage is NOT a restaurant - it's a high end car shop


https://gasmonkeygarage.com/

 

[braumeister]

Amusement park ride.

https://gojump.com

 

[JoeWras]

The ride tower is a little farther south. I like mysteries like this. I did more digging.

Looks like it is a VORTAC site. This is to assist navigation for air traffic. The site in Vernon Hills, I mentioned, is also a VORTAC. They built it on spare land after the Nike missile site was decommissioned.

More info about the Dallas site here.

 

[foxfirev5]

gas monkey garage is NOT a restaurant - it's a high end car shop


https://gasmonkeygarage.com/

I don't know what this has to do with this thread. But they're not in Key West anymore. No restaurant.

 

[braumeister]

Looks like it is a VORTAC site.

Exactly. I'm embarrassed that I missed that.

 

[gromit]

A parking spot for the Mothership.

 

[Alectoris]

Like JoeWras I kind of like exploring things like this.

I was playing around on Google maps with areas I have been in and came across this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2849229,-120.4441111,10086m/data=!3m1!1e3

I was looking at the strange and symmetric structures to the east of the crops and just south of the sand dunes. What in the world was something like this doing out in the middle of nowhere Orygun

 

[brucethebroker]

A parking spot for the Mothership.

If Richard Dreyfus starts modeling one using mashed potatoes, we are in BIG trouble!

 

[ERD50]

Here's a google view from Nike Parkway, Vernon Hills, IL. Look similar? This is from the baseball field parking lot.

Interesting! I drive nearby on Milwaukee Avenue pretty regularly, I'll check it out next time.


-ERD50

 

[skipro33]

Each VOR navigation aid is named after a local professional sports team. The one OP posted is named Rangers.


http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMWYB2_RANGER_VORTAC_Colleyville_TX_USA

 

[Sunset]

Amazing and so serendipitous the things one learns on this site.

 

[braumeister]

Like JoeWras I kind of like exploring things like this.

I was playing around on Google maps with areas I have been in and came across this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2849229,-120.4441111,10086m/data=!3m1!1e3

I was looking at the strange and symmetric structures to the east of the crops and just south of the sand dunes. What in the world was something like this doing out in the middle of nowhere Orygun

An old Air Force radar installation, long since closed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Valley_Air_Force_Station

 

[JoeWras]

We need to start our own "What on Earth?" thread. I enjoy the TV show, but they streetttcchh things out way too much with fake guesses from experts first. Still kind of fun.

 

[dixonge]

Each VOR navigation aid is named after a local professional sports team. The one OP posted is named Rangers.


RANGER VORTAC - Colleyville, TX, USA - Ground Based Air Navigation Support Structures on Waymarking.com

Actually the one in the OP is Cowboy VOR - off Merrell Rd in north Dallas. The one you posted is in Colleyville, one county west.


Here's a google map of Cowboy VOR


https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...eee0411741aa5e!8m2!3d32.8903341!4d-96.9039374

 

[Texas Proud]

gas monkey garage is NOT a restaurant - it's a high end car shop


https://gasmonkeygarage.com/

But it also IS a restaurant....


https://www.gasmonkeybarngrill.com/

 

[OldShooter]

Each VOR navigation aid is named after a local professional sports team. The one OP posted is named Rangers ...

Well, actually not. I would say that a few are, and there is some room for creativity in names. For example, the VOR near from Milwaukee(MKE) is "Badger." But most are fairly uncreative; "Las Vegas" is the VOR on the field at Las Vegas, for example. "Churchill" is the VOR near Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay. When VORs are out in the weeds, like "Peotone" they often seem to be named after a nearby town.

 

[gindie]

But it also IS a restaurant....


https://www.gasmonkeybarngrill.com/

Thanks for clearing that up. I had looked at the Bar and Grill website and got it mixed up with the garage, I guess.

 

[gindie]

Thanks, all, for the info. Cowboy is definitely what we saw. Something you don't see every day!

 

[Alectoris]

An old Air Force radar installation, long since closed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Valley_Air_Force_Station

Right on!

 

[target2019]

An old Air Force radar installation, long since closed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Valley_Air_Force_Station

It looks like irrigated land for farming. That was my first idea.

 

[MichaelB]

Must be the holidays, because when I saw the photo in the OP my first reaction was “cake dish”.