Fort Heath Fort Heath was a US seacoast military installation for defense of the Boston and Winthrop Harbor s with an early 20th - century Coast Artillery fort , a 1930s USCG radio station , prewar Navy research facilities , World War II batteries , and a Cold War radar station . The fort ' s military structures have been replaced by a residential complex ( parking areas , 3 apartment buildings , etc . ) and recreation facilities of Small Park , which has both a commemorative wall and an historical marker for Fort Heath . Grover ' s Cliff Military Reservation . The Grover Cliff geodetic survey station marker was emplaced in 1847 ( , lost by 1922 ) , and the military site was subsequently named Grover ' s Cliff Military Reservation . November 1890 planning for the military site was for 3 artillery rifles and 16 mortars , and by Spring 1898 Lt Sewail was in charge of construction . A spur of the Boston , Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad was built to the site by March 29 , bids for lumber were received in April , and the " Winthrop Mortar Batteries " of the regular army ( Battery F and Battery M ) were ordered to Grovers Cliff in May 1898 for the 16 mortars , with the batteries encamping May 16 on Cherry Street . Constructed during the Endicott modernization period for fortifications , " the first concrete foundation for one of the disappearing guns at Grovers Cliff " was complete in May 1898 , and in 1900 the installation was renamed Fort Heath . Battery Theodore Winthrop . Battery Theodore Winthrop construction was complete by 1901 with disappearing carriages ( Model 1896 ) supporting three 12 - inch guns ( M1888 ) , the heaviest guns in the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps . " Major Morris of the Seventh Heavy Arillery " was the initial commander , and " Batteries P and O of the Regular Army " manned the guns . Additional land was considered in 1901 for a Fort Heath garrison ( temporary barracks were on the west side in 1921 ) , and the fort was inspected by the Ordnance Department in 1902 . Fort Heath was a secondary station for a 1907 naval exercise , and in 1908 the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia had a Fort Heath unit . In 1908 the fort had a " range - finders house " and a sea wall was considered ( constructed on the south shore by February 1921 ) . In 1917 a " duct line " between Fort Banks and Fort Heath was contracted to New England Telephone and Telegraph , and for 3 batteries — Winthrop and Battery Kellogg & Battery Lincoln at Ft Banks — Ft Heath had the primary base end stations and the Battery Commanders ' stations ( a commander ' s station was atop the Ft Heath parapet ) . After the 1925 transfer to the Coast Guard ' s Harbor Defense Command , the fort ' s ammunition hoists were authorized for disposal in January 1932 . A federal survey marker ( MY0121 — GROVERS ) was set in the roof of the southernmost of the three fire control buildings at the fort in line at the northern end of Battery Winthrop . The marker on the " BC " ( battery control ) structure is roughly indicated on the 1921 map . Gun # 3 ( the most westerly one ) of Battery Winthrop was about 120 ft . southeast of this marker , and the line between this gun and Gun # 1 ( the most easterly one ) was 270 ft . in length . Coast Guard radio station . The United States Coast Guard radio station at Fort Heath ( call sign " NMF " ) opened on November 12 , 1931 , and was initially used for testing " traffic … relayed from Point Bonita , California . " The station had three 50 - foot masts in 1934 ( e . g . , " Heath Northwest Radio Mast " ) but as a trial for determining if Navy facilities could instead handle USCG radio traffic , the " station at Winthrop " closed from 1934 to 1936 . Subsequently operating " until 1939 when the site was taken over by the Army " , the USCG equipment " relocated to a former intelligence monitoring station at North Truro , Massachusetts . " A . A . Battery No . 4 . Antiaircraft Artillery Battery No . 4 was designated in 1935 after the 3rd gun pad was constructed in 1934 for 3 " AAA guns . The 3 emplacements were south of a radar and west of the " Theo . Winthrop " foundation ( s ) , and the 3 guns were approved on January 8 , 1942 , to be moved to Fort Ruckman . Navy Field Test Station . The United States Navy Field Test Station , Fort Heath , established by 1938 included a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research facility for " Fire Control System s " ( cf . Army Signal Corps research at the Twin Lights station at the New Jersey Highlands ) . AMTB Battery 945 . Anti - Motor Torpedo Boat Battery 945 at the eastern tip of Fort Heath ( covered the northern harbor approaches with a pair of 90mm Anti - Motor Torpedo Boat ( AMTB ) guns , and the HHB 3rd Battalion of the 9th Coast Artillery ( United States ) activated at Fort Heath on June 1 , 1941 . From September – November 1941 the camouflage training school for the First Coast Artillery District was conducted by the Corps of Engineers at Fort Heath . Gun # 1 ( ) was north of the second gun , and Battery 945 was declared surplus on December 28 , 1943 ( a very large apartment building is on the Battery 945 position . ) Cold War radar station . The Fort Heath radar station was a NORAD Control Center of the USAF and US Army from 1960 - 9 for coordinating interceptors of the Boston Air Defense Sector and Project Nike surface - to - air missiles of the Boston - Providence Defense Area . The station also had an FAA ARSR - 1A Air Route Surveillance Radar , and the " control site " was demolished in 1969 ( the bunker remained in 1971 ) , and after a Rhode Island AN / TSQ - 51 had opened by July 1 , 1970 , Project Concise closed the remaining Nike batteries in 1974 . Small Park . The FAA operated the ARSR - 1 until the mid - to - late 1990s , and by 2005 , the " Fort Heath property " of tbd acres ( tbd hectares ) acquired by the town had been converted to a municipal park ( the fort land is Formerly Used Defense Site MA19799F184300 ) .