Did you know that there is a Cold War era fallout shelter in Fair Park? The Science Place II building was the former location of the Dallas Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and the fallout shelter entrance door is still there today just outside of the playground walls. The underground shelter extends underneath the existing playground.
Construction of the Fair Park fallout shelter began in May 1961 during a time when tensions between the United States and Russia were rising. Underground concrete bunkers were thought to be the safest protection against a nuclear bomb and the radioactive fallout. The Fair Park shelter could hold up to 30 government officials for up to two weeks, and it had its own water, electricity, radio, phone lines, and food storage. It was designed to withstand a 20-megaton bomb if one were dropped 3 miles away – i.e. downtown Dallas, where most assumed a bomb would be dropped in this region.
That was all well and good if you were a high-ranking government official, but how would ordinary citizens protect themselves? While President Kennedy urged the general public to begin constructing fallout shelters in their own yards and homes, it was recognized early on that personal shelters were cost prohibitive for many families. The government also could not afford to build underground shelters for the majority of the population. Instead, Kennedy announced the National Fallout Shelter Survey and Marking program in October 1961. The program would identify existing structures that could shelter thousands of people at a time during a nuclear attack and mark those structures with the now-familiar black and yellow “Fallout Shelter” signs. They were also to be stocked with food rations, drums of water, and basic medical kits.
Dallas, like most major cities, was included in the survey. The first public fallout shelter in Dallas was designated in September 1962 at the Southland Life Insurance building (now demolished). That structure was meant to hold up to 30,000 people in an attack. By 1966, over 300 official shelters were designated in the Dallas metroplex that could hold approximately 1 million people. You can view the full report listing all of Dallas’ designated shelters here.
Whether or not the government believed the public shelters would be effective in the event of an actual nuclear war is debatable, and there were several problems with the plan to shelter large numbers of people. The buildings would not have been able to withstand direct attacks, and many locations were likely to be targeted with more than one bomb. The question of where people would go once an attack was over was never fully resolved, and there was not a clear plan to provide medical care for serious widespread injuries or radiation exposure. Additionally, toilet facilities were not expanded in the designated buildings, and the government directive to use chairs with a hole cut out of them and placed over a bucket to use as makeshift toilets was not an ideal solution for the cramped, poorly ventilated spaces available. Also, many shelters did not receive their supplies, and some of those that did reported faulty water drums and equipment. Thus, interest in public fallout shelters began to wane as quickly as it appeared due to many of these concerns and the reality that nuclear bombs were becoming so powerful that no public shelter would be strong enough to withstand them. Today, fallout shelters are usually marketed as storm shelters.
The Fair Park fallout shelter is a fascinating remnant of our history. It is not open to the public and the four-ton steel doors have not been operated in years, but anyone visiting Fair Park can still see the outside entry blast door just outside of the playground walls next to the Science Place II building. If you would like to take a virtual tour of this shelter, visit the Civil Defense Museum’s website where you will find further fascinating details of the shelter and its history!
See out photo set of the Fair Park fallout shelter door here.
The Bluitt Sanitarium was the first hospital established for African American residents in Dallas. It was established in 1906 by Dr. Benjamin R. Bluitt (1864-1946), who was also the first African American surgeon in Texas. Bluitt was the son of former slaves, and moved to Dallas to practice medicine in the underserved black community in the city. Many residents who lived in Dallas during the era of Segregation spoke of a “color line” in Downtown Dallas, which defined the boundaries between the mixed-race Deep Ellum neighborhood and the more predominantly white Central Business District. While you will not find any mention of a color line in city ordinances from the period, researchers have verified its existence and have placed the western boundary somewhere between South Harwood Street and present-day Central Expressway. The Bluitt Sanitarium – the tan brick building located at 2034-38 Commerce Street – was built in 1904. It is the only building known to have been built, owned, and operated by black professionals this close to the color line. Many of the physicians and medical professionals who worked at Bluitt Sanitarium became prominent leaders within the black community and filled a crucial gap in medical care in Dallas. Bluitt relocated his medical practice further into Deep Ellum in 1914. Both buildings at this location are designated as City of Dallas Landmarks and are protected.
City of Dallas Office of Historic Preservation 
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