This multi-used path was formerly a railroad track used over time by both passenger and freight trains. A building perpendicular to the street replaced an earlier barn and tobacco warehouse, where growers stored tobacco until shipment by rail to cigar manufacturers in the South. From 1956-1963, a nearby site served as a base for launching Nike Ajax surface-to-air missiles. Named for the Greek goddess of victory, the Nike program established about 250 sites around the nation, including 13 in Connecticut. Nike HA-85 Avon/Simsbury was operated by the U.S. Army, with a launch site in Simsbury and a radar control site in Avon on Talcott Mountain. Both were manned 24x7 and included on-site barracks. Nike Ajax sites were eventually either converted to launch Hercules missiles carrying nuclear warheads or were de-commissioned, as in Simsbury.