The Vault (ayuh): Maine's Fallout Shelters

This is a rough list of Fallout Shelters/Bunkers in the area, and associated media reports regarding them. 

I will update this as I find more. 

Updated 11/8/14

Maine has had stints of importance through its history leaving us with a wealth of abandoned, disused, and in some cases decaying defense infrastructure. Among our derelict missile bases and radar stations there are also many shelters we built for ourselves ranging in size from concrete closets to communications bunkers to be used in the event that the Soviets were to send bombers/missiles to Limestone or Bangor. In 1961 the need was identified to conduct a survey of fallout shelters in Maine under the administration of then Governor Reed. 1961 was also the year that Maine residents within a seven mile radius of Portland, Loring AFB, and Bangor heard the recommendation that they build underground fallout shelters near their homes, as 'cellar' shelters would be ineffective due to the likelihood that either Loring, Bangor or Portland would take a hit directly.

In addition to shelters, Civil Defense command/communications bunkers were established in five localities in the state to co-ordinate evacuation of those in 'risk' areas to 'host' areas.

• Civil Defense Command bunker areas. (Windham is the only one that's currently active.) 

• Old Town
• Its Civil Defense bunker had been built in '61, used during various emergencies, turned into a prison and sealed permanently in '95. A more detailed writeup is here.
• Auburn
• All I can find on this one is an article in the Lewiston Daily Sun from 1960, stating that the 'bunker' would be a grassed-over quonset hut located at the Lewiston-Auburn municipal airport. I have not been able to determine the bunker's location. 
• Milo
• This facility still functions as emergency management headquarters for Piscataquis county. I visited it in the summer of 2014.
• Caribou
• I have not been able to find any information on this factility. 
• South Windham
• This CD Bunker is still in use, in its original capacity. A building has been added to the top of the original bunker, and a modern comm tower has been erected. Note, though, the bright orange low frequency towers surrounding the facility that are identical to those observed in Orono. Might the bunker have the same layout, too?

Civil Defense bunker in Milo

A 1967 study indicated that Maine had 392,000 fallout shelter "spaces." The article goes on to list a fallout shelter 'space' as a ventilated space of 10 square ft or more, that provides a predefined level of protection. The Civil Defense authority, in 1967, had estimated that the State of Maine could provide space for 192,000 persons in the event of a nuclear attack. This number was increased to 646,000 people by late 1972.

In addition to quantifying spaces for shelters, CD authorities provided locals with radiological measurement tools that were supposed to be tested/calibrated annually. Very few individuals retained knowledge of how to use the testing equipment.

Using Google's news archives, and my local library, I've been able to put together a short list of 20th century shelter/bunker facilities documented throughout the state. Many of the private shelters I found were in Northern Maine, near the site of former Loring AFB.

• Augusta
•  The Sun Journal reported that the Blaine House has a 50's era shelter, but it is in disuse..Several newspaper clippings from the Lewiston Evening Journal (12/31/1960) show the shelter under the Blaine House from before it had been closed up & forgotten.



Photo from Lewiston Evening Journal, 1960

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• A 1967 article from the Lewiston Evening Journal states that a 'hotline' was installed in the Governor's office, that would allow the President of the US to address all state governor's simultaneously.
• A fallout shelter was also built in the Maine State House in 1983, and remains stocked/ready to protect officials to this day. 
• Additionally, the Capital Building also had a shelter, capable of holding a few hundred people. It was the first State owned building to be a licensed public fallout shelter. 
• A private shelter on Mt Vernon Ave had to be demolished in 2011 to make way for sewer renovations -- according to The Kennebec Journal.
• Greater Bangor Area (Incl. Old Town, Orono, Milford, Brewer, etc...)



Roof ventilation, Old Town Emergency Operations Center (ue-bangor.tripod.com)

• The Old Town Civil Defense Bunker. Built in 1964 and permanently sealed in 1995. Minimum security woman's prison between 1986-1988. 
• The Pelletier House was reported on by the Bangor Daily News as being under a "house on a hill outside Bangor." This facility was a personal fallout shelter, and was abandoned after the owner moved to Bridgton, to get farther away from Loring AFB and the SAC activities at Bangor International Airport. 
• There are a handful of old Civil Defense spec fallout shelters throughout the city. 
  
• Bridgton
• On Dec 7th, 1981, it was reported by the Bangor Daily News, that a rather extensive private fallout shelter with capacity for up to 30 people exists in Bridgton. The facility reportedly sported a 190ft freshwater well.
• Fort Kent
• The Fiddlehead Focus reported that a Cold War era bomb shelter was uncovered in 2012 on Main St in Ft Kent when they noticed "that a room in the cellar had a thick concrete ceiling." The story stated the shelter was built in the mid 1960s, and that residents in the region suspect more homes may have shelters. The photo accompanying the article clearly shows it's a cinder-blocked room in the basement. Their site is behind a paywall -- so I'm not linking to it. If only there were a way to monetize visits...
• Gray
• A house in gray sports a hidden 'panic room'   constructed out of granite in the late 1700s; the area was known for attacks from natives, but the protection offered by the stone walls would have been sufficient to protect from nuclear fallout -- provided the area was properly sealed.
• Houlton
• A local relator describes having a Cold War era bomb shelter beneath radio station WHOU, which must have had communications capabilities as he recalls "I thought if there was ever a nuclear attack at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, no one locally would know until it came over the wire. News locally went unreported unless called in to the AP and re-routed back to the announcer. If they took the time to check the wire."
• Madawaska
• An article from the Lewiston Evening Journal, from 1965, references the Madawaska Emergency Operations Center
• Milo
• The Sun Journal recently reported that a "1950s era" bunker, identcial to the one in Windham, exists but is not maintained nearly as well and is used primarily for storage. 
• The  Milo Civil Defense Bunker is still active, and maintained quite well by the county. 
• Norway
• A reader has informed me that there is a shelter under both the Key Bank, and the Masonic Hall.  
• Piscatiquis County
• Early Warning System points were added to the Piscatiquis (and Washington) Sheriff's department offices in 1966.
• Presque Isle

• Local realty listings indicate there are several homes in the area with subterranean bomb shelters. One such listing, of an old farm house, shows at least the entrance to the shelter-- located underneath a barn. 
• Greater Portland Area
• The Lewiston Evening Journal reported that Androscoggin county had an Emergency Operations Center, similar to that in Old Town, Milo, and Windham. 
• The same paper reported, in 1964 that the city was to have around 80 public fallout shelters, equipped with medical supplies, rations, and geiger counters. 
• Lewiston/Auburn
• In 1981, the journal reported that Lewiston/Auburn officials were in the process of re-identifying fallout shelters in the area. The locations of shelters given are:
• Androscoggin County Coalbunker
• The Greeley Building - This building was condemned in 2006 and subsequently demolished in 2007 according to Article XV of Appendix A of The City of Lewiston's Zoning and Land Use Code.
• The Centennial Block. 
• Central Maine Medical Center -According to paywalled content by the Lewiston Sun Journal, CMMC used to blast the civil defense air raid siren periodically.
• Bates College - In 1963, the Lewiston Daily Sun reported that two shelters may exist on the Bates College campus. They are described as "large concrete and steel underground chambers" each 120ft x 33ft x 10ft high. The school stated that they were for storage, but the paper reported that they were ventilated, screened per Civil Defense specs, contain a fresh water source, and electric generators. They were reported to have existed "under the maintenance building on Andrews Rd" and under the administration building -- both were connected by a 100ft tunnel. The report also states that a 'decontamination room' was adjacent to the entrances. Storage indeed. 
• The Lewiston Armory contains a fallout shelter, that has since been turned to storage space. 
• Rangeley
• The Rangeley Public Library had a CD spec fallout shelter in its basement, in the mid 1960s. 
• Seal Harbor
• A newspaper article sourced from 1978 indicates that a "blue-blooded patriot" had built a 30x15x12 cinder block fallout shelter 'beside' their summer home, complete with stored food, water, and really expensive booze. The person who built this shelter in the shadow of a swanky summer home, has unfortunately been dead as of September of 1995. I've contacted a relative of the previous owners and received a response stating that the shelter was built during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and that when the house was sold in 1996, the new owners tore down the shelter.
• Unknown/Unidentified
• An article from November of 1965 reports the existence of a "State Calibration Range." Which is described as an underground concrete room designed to aid in the calibration of radiological detection instruments. The article does not specify the location of this facility. 
• This Video from WCSH shows a private shelter somewhere in Maine. Definitely worth a watch.
• A glurge from the Empower Network tells a pretty unlikely story of a bomb shelter being lived in by a homeless man in Southern Maine.
• Windham
• A Civil Defense center is present beneath the state prison. This story from 2005 indicates that it is/was (as of 2005) active, stocked, and prepared to serve as a communications station in the event that it is needed. This story from 1981 describes it as a 'command bunker.'
• The compound proximate to the prison is mentioned in this article from 1965 as an Emergency Operations Center for the county.