The Marine Mammal Center stands on the former Nike Missile Launch Area, SF 87L, where the army built two missile batteries in the Marin Headlands in the 1950s, one near Fort Cronkhite and another at Fort Barry, equipped with surface-to-air missiles named for the Greek goddess of victory. The missiles remained in place for nearly 20 years but were never launched. After SF 87L closed in 1972 and passed to the National Park Service, the site was permitted in 1975 for use as a rescue and rehabilitation hospital, beginning a lasting partnership that turned a Cold War military installation to peaceful use. In the surrounding Marin Headlands, preservation battles in the late 1960s helped create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the region, though bordered by Bay Area urban development, retains diverse natural resources, serves as a flyway for migrating raptors, supports endangered species, and has been home over time to Coast Miwok people, dairy ranchers, lighthouse keepers, soldiers, and today artists, educators, biologists, and park rangers.