Century Maine - Lost and Abandoned Sites: Civil Defense Bunker

Awhile back, I posted about the Old Town civil defense bunker -- a facility built in the early 60s that would have helped coordinate evacuation of citizens from 'risk' areas to 'shelter' areas if the Soviets were to glass Bangor. There is another, identical, bunker in Windham -- but it's still in use by Cumberland County, and their director doesn't seem keen on tourists. Where does that leave us? With the only one of two CD bunkers still "open." (Open by virtue of not having been filled with concrete.) So, on a beautiful June afternoon I gathered a small away team and took a drive up to take a look at the Milo Civil Defense bunker. When we arrived we found that the Piscataquis Amateur Radio club was having their annual field day. Much to our luck, they were kind enough to show us around.

The bunker in Milo is like the bunkers in Old Town and Windham; a result of a need to create contingency plans to protect citizenry in the event of Soviet nuclear attack. It's served as a soup kitchen, and has been operating again (kind of) in its original capacity since 2002 as it is the site of a radio transmitter designed to provide information to locals in the event of emergency. Additionally, the radio club is quite active, and the soup kitchen there still serves the community.

The blue portion of the logo appears
to have been long gone.

The condition of this bunker is striking, even some of the furniture appears to be original. Long, low tables, period task chairs (not pictured) and a stylized but rough logo on a podium lend themselves to an eerily (but unintentional) period feel. The concrete beams of the ceiling are omnipresent within the structure, but partitions and doors are erect.

The partitions may be original, as the only reference in local news to renovation is regarding the facility's kitchen and code upkeep. News stories reference flood damage in the late 1980s, but none of it is apparent.

Several agencies have transmitters onsite including local law enforcement, NOAA, and the county emergency management agency. There's still a generator and working plumbing. If a bomb were to drop, these guys may be ready to go. Or at least they'd probably live longer...

Using google's newspaper archive, I've put together a short timeline of the bunker's history since its construction in the early 60s:

An old punch down block and phone demarc.

October, 1987 - a Bangor Daily News article reveals that the facility is the target of budget cuts after it had flooded in April of 1987, and it was found that the telephone system present in the "complex" (BDN's word, not mine) wasn't advanced enough to allow itemization of phone calls.

June, 1989 - the county considers closing the bunker. It was used as the site for the sherriff's communications equipment, some emergency management functionality, and at the time it was also considered as an adult ed center.

November, 1991 - the bunker's future balanced on the edge of a county commissioner's chopping block, again...

November, 1993 - the county talks about closing it. Again.

November, 1998 - The kitchen of the bunker is considered for use in charity work by the Eastern Agency on Aging. From the sign on the photo above, they appear to have chosen it.

September, 1999- Piscataquis county spends $10,000 ($14,230 adj for inflation) to renovate the bunker to serve as a kitchen. By contrast, Penobscot county spent $20,000 in 1986 ($43,261 adj) to renovate their bunker into a jail.

March, 2002 - the bunker gets additional roles as the location of an emergency NOAA transmission site.

April, 2003 - Emergency Management Agency holds a free weather-spotter course at the bunker.

The photos are below. To see a larger version of each photo, click on it. Your scroll wheel will also flip through the gallery.