![]() ![]() While driving recently down Huntington Avenue in Boston, I went to pass the Mass College of Art, which is undergoing some construction. Tagged Boston, fallout shelter, fallout shelter sign, Massachusetts, theater Leave a comment An Abnormal Revelation No portion of the photographs was changed or altered in any way. The above photographs are property of the City of Boston Archives and used under Creative Commons licensing. Know of another theater that was once a fallout shelter? Contact us. The exterior sign on the front of it was just removed in late 2013 an interior sign also existed, but it’s current status is unknown.Īlthough no fallout shelters ever had to be employed for actual use, one can only imagine the mass confusion that might have ensued should a shelter in a theater been needed and a movie or performance was already underway. In Quincy, the old Wollaston Theater on Beale Street was once a fallout shelter. All the signs at the Paramount were removed before it was renovated to its current state. An exterior sign remains at the rear of the Wang, and one is on the front of the Huntington Theater. The Paramount Theater on Washington Street in Boston, the Wang Citi Center (formerly the Music Hall) on Tremont Street, and the Huntington Theater on Huntington Avenue were also fallout shelters. The other two buildings have been demolished, and the sign at E.M. Loews Theater still remains ( a Chinese restaurant now sits where the theater used to be). Of the three theaters shown above, only the building that housed the E.M. Loews Theater, under the “Center” marquee. One fallout shelter sign is seen on the former E.M. ![]() Loews Theater, 690-692 Washington Street, Boston. This photo of the former State Theater also shows two shelter signs one was for the theater, the other for the adjacent Crabtree Building.įormer E.M. As long as the building or space met the criteria set forth by the Office of Civil Defense, it was marked as a fallout shelter.Īlthough certain types of buildings were very often seen as shelters (schools, municipal buildings, courthouses etc), generally due to their size and construction, some more unlikely places also served as shelters.įormer Pilgrim Theater, 660 block of Washington St, Boston.Īs the photo above shows, the former Pilgrim Theater in Boston was marked as a fallout shelter (as was the adjacent doorway, which appears to be a separate shelter).įormer State Theater, 617-619 Washington Street, Boston. Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex Counties – Massachusetts (1979)īarnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk, and Plymouth Counties – Massachusetts (1978)īerkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire Counties – Massachusetts (1978) Tagged Barnstable County, Berkshire County, Bristol County, Civil Defense, Community Shelter Plan, Dukes County, Essex County, fallout shelter, Franklin County, Hampden County, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Nantucket County, Norfolk County, Plymouth County, Suffolk County, Worcester County Leave a comment A Night At The Theater and I Know I’m SafeĪs the national fallout shelter program got underway in the early 1960’s, public fallout shelters were marked in all types of buildings in Massachusetts. You might also notice that the maps with the shelter plans contain the disclaimer that these shelters were only for people whose basements were not suitable as shelters, and as well that not all shelters were stocked with food, and to bring whatever you could carry with you to the shelter.Īn interesting read for anyone that lived in Massachusetts during this time, and maybe even remembers these documents being published or distributed. The lists also did not include all known shelters in an area, especially in larger cities and towns (i.e. That makes me wonder if, by the 1970’s, that officials wanted to let the public know which buildings might have been suitable as shelter, but did not make the effort to mark them with signs, or could not allocate signs to put on them. The following links are for scanned copies of Community Shelter Plans for various counties in Massachusetts.Īs I looked through some of them, I noticed that there are public shelters listed in some places that once had posted signs, and several others that were not believed to have ever had signs. As found on Archive.Org, several Community Shelter Plans existed for Massachusetts going into the late 1970’s.
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