Abandoned wastewater treatment for Dow AFB Housing (Capehart) | Bangor

On August 1st, 1964, Bangor town manager proposed a cleanup project that would help turn the Kenduskeag stream from an open pit sewer into a stream again, with the help of some Air Force infrastructure; this included connecting a Dow AFB's sewage treatment plant to the rest of the system -- that would service a big chunk of the west side of Bangor. 

The proposal to connect the Air Force waste water treatment facility to the rest of the city's system gave a project start date of 1965, local records indicate the sites inclusion in the city's sewer system in 1973 and then the sale of the facility itself in 1980. Connecting this facility to the rest of the city's system did help to clean up the Kenduskeag significantly, but nobody has done anything with the site since 1980. Save for some creative redecorating. 

 

Nestled in a wooded area, far past the end of a subdivision road that goes nowhere, lay the ruins of Dow AFB's wastewater treatment area. Built in the mid 1950s to manage waste from adjacent Air Force housing, and connected to the rest of the city's systems in the early 1970s to address concerns of rising pollution in the Penobscot river and surround bodies of water (and to 'help' the City of Bangor build a 400 acre park along the banks of the Kenduskeag), the facility stands disused and hidden among brush today.

Major investments were made as late as 1973, when the city connected the facility to the rest of the sewer; the project had a price tag of $2m (downgraded from $2.5m in 1971)...which, adjusted for inflation would be $10,643,828 in 2014 dollars. However, that figure also includes all of the other "interceptor" lines, a system of which this site was only a part.

The facility's connection to the rest of the city's sewer system was a result of national pressure to meet anti-pollution standards as early as 1971; and honestly, the Kenduskeag stream was quite literally full of shit prior to these improvements. Neighboring towns even wanted to pay to use the facility, and records show that by 1978, the plant was still in use.

Not surprisingly, it had its origins (much like many other neat things standing around here...) as an Air Force related facility from back when Uncle Sam turned some of the swamps on the city limits into 530 units of Air Force housing back in 1963. The facility was built to handle waste from airmen and their families. I reached out to a local who had been a student studying wastewater treatment at Eastern Maine Community College (then EMVTI) in the late 1970s. This was their response:

"Actually, our class toured it several years after it was shut down. The instructor we had who gave us the tour used to work there as an operator in the air force. It was owned and operated by the air force, as it’s function was to treat the sewage outflow from the Capehart Housing development. (which was Air Force housing for airmen and their families ) The treatment plant was built long before 1973, I think in the 50’s. I visited there in the spring of 1979, and it was long abandoned then. You could still see the large “clarifier” tank, and the pumps and valves in the “control house”.

An interceptor line was installed when the city sewer system was extended to that area, MAYBE that’s the 1973 date that you found."

 - Local man who toured the area as a student, in 1979.

The site in the early 2000s.

A treatment pit -- Early 2000s

 According to this article from February 25th, 1971, this secondary treatment site was designed to disinfect water after it had been processed by the primary system. It even got increased federal funding that year for some retrofitting thanks to Senators Muskie and Chase-Smith.

"Secondary treatment would remove the remaining bacteria from sewer water. This is accomplished by several systems, the addition of chemicals and air bubbles being two of them....completion of the secondary treatment system will bring the Penobscot River up to a "B" classification, safe for swimming."

-Bangor Daily News

"Bangor Must Build Secondary Sewage Treatment Facility by the end of 1974"

Appearing February 21st, 1971

As soon as 1972, local media was already hypothesizing about how cleaning up the area could help revitalize it. And even copy from 1973 reported that the project was going well and also indicated the presence of a 'collection terminal' near an I-95 overpass, proximate to the Kenduskeag stream. The project was finished by late November/early December of 1973. The facility was designed to take waste from the area of Broadway and Ohio street and process them, rather than letting them drain into the Kenduskeag.

In the photo above, you can see construction crews on State St in Bangor working to connect the "interceptor" line facility to the rest of the system in February of 1973. In the photo below, you can see crews working farther up toward the Kenduskeag treatment facility.

Less than ten years after the $2m investment, in 1981, the Bangor Daily News ran an advertisement indicating that the facility was to be sold.

 

The only thing that looks like it's been done since the time it was sold off is the demolition of an 800 square foot concrete office building shell.  All that is left now are the concrete treatment areas, a few building shells and the rusting steel roof of one of the facilities' tanks.

Site photos from 2000's credited to ue-bangor.tripod.com. For more information, please visit their site. 

Update: 04/24/13

I had contacted Bangor's old civil engineer, he was gracious enough to send a reply. I'm scrubbing name and contact information, as I felt guilty about looking him up to bother him with my weird curiosities.

 "Yes, that water treatment plant was constructed to serve the so-called Old Capehart housing project, located south of the Davis Road. I believe that your dates of 1962-63 are probably correct.  At that time, that area was not served by the City sewer system, which did not extend much beyond Griffin Road.  At about the same time, we were just in the process of building Bangor's wastewater treatment on lower Main Street, and extending interceptor sewers up along the river; all of Bangor's public and private sewers were still dumping into Kenduskeag Stream and thePenobscot River untreated. It wasn't until the mid-70's that the interceptors were finally extended up the stream, first to Griffin Road, and a short time later to the Capehart plant.  The City had taken over the Capehart housing by then, and didn't want to have to continue the operation of the Capehart plant. In fact, when all the interceptors were in place, we were able to increase the sewered area of the City by 40%, including the Bangor Mall - Hogan Road area, and many of the new outlying residential areas. "

Update: 04/29/2013

It is important to note that the sewer interceptor project was a significant factor in cleaning up the Penobscot. The Capehart facility is just one piece of a puzzle that did a great service to this area.

Photos sourced from ue-bangor.tripod.com -- the site is currently posted no trespassing.

Civil Defense Bunker | Old Town

Update: 11 years after writing this original article in 2014, I decided to review the plethora of comments that this blog has acquired over the last decade and found a few new leads and bits to add to the story. I will be appending the original article from a 11 years ago with updated content from the Umaine student newspaper that I've recently been made aware of. New content will be marked with italics.

Make a long story short...in addition to being a Civil Defense bunker and a women's prison, there was a proposal in the early 1990s to turn it into a literal underground music and arts venue. This backfired spectacularly and resulted in the bunker being sealed off. 

- August, 2025

*****************************

Awhile back, I wrote about The Doomsday Shitter , a commode/barrel that my father had acquired from his father back when his father worked at the University of Maine in Orono. I think we found where the Doomsday Shitter came from....

Away from Bangor, you've got the somewhat peaceful bedroom community (ex mill town...) named Old Town. It's got everything you'd need in a slightly dated suburban community attached to a metro area that has been on the decline. Including a subterranean civil defense bunker (turned womans prison and later abandoned.)

At one point in the 1990s, this was considered for a night club by some Umaine students. In an alternative timeline, I'd have gone to see post-hardcore shows here in the 2010's instead of what was left of The Bounty. It was considered to become a "student run music and performing arts center" . Which would have given Bangor its own Cavern Club. Complete with windowless concrete walls and electric guitars.

This publication also states that in 1988 it was indeed used for drug evidence storage by the Penobscot County Sheriff's office. However, given it's a student run university newspaper in the pre-internet era with no citations -- take that with a grain of salt. 


It's been such a great local 'mystery' fixture that there are several sites/resources if you're interested in seeing more:

• Here is a great Flickr set someone put together while visiting the site during winter months.
• The Bangor Explorers Guild is the site that really got me interested in this kind of thing. It's got a great set of pictures, some of which I have taken the liberty of using here. All credit for interior shots go to these nameless explorers. 
• Here's the Photostream of a local who has taken some great pictures of the site.
• A University Student has found the site of interest.

In the woods right out behind the Hannah Ford Clinic (also known as The Hannafids, Hannafids, or Hannaford), on a piece of University property there stands a hill. In the side of that hill, are  two blocked up doorways that would lead to an 8000 square-ft (or 3500 square-ft, depending on source) subterranean civil defense bunker built in 1965, complete with very low frequency communications equipment, to house Penobscot County Commissioners and other officials in the event of a nuclear attack.

According to this story from 1982, the bunker is 3500 square feet, built at ground level and has concrete walls that are 18 inches thick. In addition, dirt is piled on the outside walls which would mean that less than 1/1,000th of outside radiation would penetrate the bunker walls. The linked story lists the facilities sheltering capacity as 350 people, mostly government and law enforcement officials who would communicate with federal authorities and relay information to communities. However a story from 2004 would go on to state that there were only working and living quarters for 60 full time staff and officials.

Below is a map made by the adventurers behind UE-Bangor.tripod.com, credit for the map goes to the anonymous explorer behind that site. Given the entrance doors, it's easier to visualize the bunker's size. I've added red text to highlight certain areas of the bunker with information gleaned from news stories (linked later on in this post) as well as from testimony reprinted by UE-Bangor. I've marked what I can say with some degree of confidence is correct -- it is unclear if the 'infirmary' is a cluster of small rooms near the bathrooms or if it is a singular room. Also, many of the rooms that aren't labeled may be offices or sleeping quarters -- sure looks like a tight squeeze for between 60-350 people.

Officials who had to report to the bunker in the event of a nuclear strike on Bangor would be charged with coordinating relocation of thousands of citizens in the Bangor area to safer areas (host towns), according to a story from 1983.

Civil Defense Workers Drill in the bunker (BDN Archive Photo, 1982)

This is corroborated by an "informant" on a Bangor Urb-Ex page (that has not been updated in many years) the rooms within the bunker are very small and it was designed to support individuals for quite some time. This note was apparently penned by a party who was part of the team responsible for 'sealing up' the place.

"Now a little about the layout. The whole bunker while it looks impressive is really quite small in size and the many rooms that line either side of the halls are could only fit a bed(cot) and maybe a small table etc. The door closest to the "garage door" is the main entrance and the large room off of the garage door was the common area where people ate and the like. The L shaped room with the many compartments was used mainly for storage. There was a Kitchen where you guessed on the map and the old upright milk machine and metal trays are still there waiting to be used. Directly across from the kitchen and a little to the left was where the infirmary was and many of the sleeping quarters, bathrooms and showers were located. The large room nearest the air vents is where the generators still reside. Big floor mounted generators that look like the front part of a bulldozer. The next room down from it is where the fuel for them is stored and as of 94-95 they were still topped of and ready to rock....who knows, we never got the courage to flip the switch. The towers (haven't been by in a while to see if they are still there) held LOW band antennas operating at around 50Mhz which was what the CD used back then before VHF took off."

-Anonymous "Informant", ue-Bangor

Main Hallway

During the mid 1980s it was used to house low-security female inmates from the Penobscot County Jail, but was only a prison for the duration of construction elsewhere. According to the Bangor Daily News, using this facility as a prison caused a "furor" as it's near a bicycle trail and the YMCA. It was also at this time that the site was renovated to the tune of $20,000.

The Bangor Daily News reported that this was because of:

• The need for new walls/partitions to create four dormitory style rooms that each would hold four prisoners. 
• The building of two individuals cells. 
• The need for a holding cell
• "The day room" 
• A new door to the exterior of the bunker. 
• The need to move the fences from the old jail to the bunker. 

This would mean that the floor plan has been changed quite significantly...While on the topic of the bunker's years as a prison, below is a news photograph from the mid 1980s, showing the newly remodeled facility ready to start its time as a minimum security women's prison. The comm towers are visible at the top of the photo, and the 'cage' for the recreational area is seen in the foreground. Compare to the photograph below, taken from a similar perspective in 2014. (The area was too overgrown to get far enough away from the entrance to provide the exact perspective.)

 

If you look past the leading edge of the concrete entrance (in the photo below), you can see where the sliding glass doors were boarded up.

There were also many interior changes made during this time, below is the common area. Note the sliding glass doors leading to the external courtyard. Those glass doors are right behind the tire in the picture above. In the map earlier in the post, those glass doors are referred to as "a cemented-over garage door sized opening."

From the Bangor Daily News - 10/08/1986

Also, during the bunker's time as a jail, the kitchen was expanded.

This is what the kitchen looked like when explored by the ue-Bangor(.tripod.com) group:

After having been a jail for some time, the site fell into disuse in 1988. It was briefly considered by the county to be used as a 911 dispatch center in 1989, and was courted by a local nonprofit as an HQ in 1991. Somewhere between 1991 and the mid-to-late 1990s, some vandals took their toll. According to a local interviewed in 2004, some vandals had broken in because they thought (for some reason) that the Penobscot County Sheriff's department stored all of their confiscated pot down there.

The Indiana Jones of cannabis.

Hurrr

In 1995, police received an anonymous tip that someone was 'breaking in' to the bunker, the Bangor Daily News reported that a police officer was dispatched and saw two individuals on the roof of the structure, while the police blotter indicated that ten individuals were issued a summons for trespassing. What the article (linked below) doesn't state is whether or not the ten who were nabbed for breaking in had actually managed to get inside before authorities could respond. Considering the graffiti, it's possible that those ten people were among the last in the bunker, as it was sealed shortly thereafter. This is conjecture...there's no way I can know whether or not the ten from the police blotter are the same who vandalized the site.

Photo from ue-bangor.tripod.com

Additionally, with the help of the Bangor Daily News, I've been able to piece together a little bit of a timeline of the Civil Defense Bunker's history.

• September 23rd, 1963 - before the Old Town Civil Defense Bunker was even built, the Lewiston Evening Journal reported that two men (one of Auburn, the other of Windham) were to organize meetings to develop contingency plans and to teach fallout shelter management. 
• I am including this article on the Old Town site as the "Bangor-Orono" area was listed as one of the prospective sites for a shelter.
• March 9th, 1971 - The CD Bunker participates in a statewide exercise designed to simulate bomb drops for fallout tracking and reporting readiness purposes. This was called Operation Pinpoint, and while the Old Town CD bunker is not mentioned directly on the page, scroll to the bottom of this post for a comment relating to the bunker's role in this exercise. 
• Sunday, February 6th, 1973, the Lewiston Sun-Journal, in an article focusing on Civil Defense improvements in the area, referenced the building of "multi-purpose Civil Defense Emergency Operation Centers...with the help of federal monies in Van Buren, Lewiston, the University of Maine at Orono and Lincoln County." The Old Town Bunker is one such center.
• On a Sunday, May 1st, 1973, the Lewiston Daily Sun reported that due to flooding in the region, individuals from Costigan/Milford took shelter in the "municipal civil defense bomb shelter" with several families.
• July 12th, 1979, the BDN reported that "Penobscot CEP prepared to use Old Town bunker" as a precaution in the face of the deteriorating orbit of Skylab as it passed over Maine. The Old Town bunker was on 24 hour alert, until Skylab had passed over the state. The facility was notified by teletype, and one CEP Director Bill Hunt spent the night in the bunker.
• On January 30th, 1980, the BDN ran a story called "Action on park, civil defense unit reflect mandate for budget cuts." The story gives us two pretty interesting facts about the bunker. 
• It was still in use in its original capacity as late as 1980, as the story copy indicates that Penobscot County ran its Civil Emergency Preparedness Department office out of the bunker. 
• The story copy also states that "Less than a year ago, the University of Maine at Orono occupied a portion of the underground bunker for a research project. I have not been able to find records elsewhere referencing this research project. 
• June 3rd,  1981, the BDN ran a story called "Bunker Use Sought" which described the freshly out of use facility as "Available: One bunker. 100 ft by 50ft. Underground. Located in Old Town woods. Can be the home of 60 government officials and communication equipment in the event of a nuclear disaster."
• This story reports that the University of Maine at Orono contracted with the county since July of 1979 to use part of the bunker for a "special research project." 
• This story also indicates that between 1980 and 1981, Penobscot county eliminated the Civil Emergency Preparedness director position. 
• This story also states that the bunker was still in use as a communications hub at the time it was written.
• On April 26th, 1982, the BDN ran a story called "The bunker is there but no orders" which stated that the bunker was 'the area's civil defense operations center, from which officials will direct emergency operations if the Bangor area comes under enemy attack.' The story then states that in the event of nuclear attack, county officials were supported to report to the site.
• On February 3rd, 1983, it was reported in the BDN article titled "Balky towns, communication gap mar nuclear crisis drill" that the site was used in its civil defense capacity during a drill which included a scenario related to evacuation of the Bangor area, as it was then classified as a "likely target for Soviet missiles." 
• July 9th, 1986 - the BDN reports on 'progress' in the bunker project. 
• July 18th, 1986, the BDN reported that "Prisoners to move to bunker by fall" , pending approval from boards representing Old Town and the University of Maine.
• *September 3rd, 1986 article from Umaine cites concerns about a proposed prison on Umaine property in Old Town. Officials state the term "prisoner is too harsh"...
• September 10th, 1986, BDN reports "CD bunker given final approval as jail facility."
• October 3rd, 1986, it was reported that the first nine prisoners were to move to the bunker; the story also contains information on the renovations required.
• The Bangor Daily news reported, on December 11th, 1986, that the "Civil Defense bunker prison has septic system problems" ...which is interesting. None of the BDN issues archived with Google News make any mention of the facility being turned into a women's overflow prison. Speaking of overflow, the leach field collapsed and started marinating the bunker in shitwater.
• "The waste problem, according to county officials, was that the septic system, which was supposed to be suitable for use by large numbers of people in an emergency, had been used only occasionally over the past several years."
• This story, for some reason, was also re-run by the Bangor Daily News on December 12th, 1986.
• On October 17th, 1987, "Lack of inmates causes jail annex to shut down" is published as an informational, four paragraph piece.
• October 29th, 1987, the BDN ran "Bunker shutdown brings up doubts concerning future." which told us that by the late 1980s, there were only five inmates and two 'boarders' living at the facility. The county had apparently considered other uses for the bunker, which would include letting inmates from other prisons stay there. This article closes with hints that the county may be considering shuttering the bunker. 
• On December 4th, 1987 - The University of Maine newspaper ran a story about "Local bunker being used as a prison" It states "The bunker is broken up into 12 rooms. There are two single bedrooms, four quadruple bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom. dayroom, a boiler room and a section where Old Town Civil Defew officials work and store radio equipment."
• On December 16th, 1987, it was reported that the bunker was once again being used to house female inmates.  "Temporary occupants of old town bunker try to keep busy" ran along with a very poorly preserved photo of the 'courtyard' added to the bunker in this time frame.
• April 11th, 1988 - the BDN reports a Jail Fund Raiser in which the Old Town "civil defense bunker" is a footnote. 
• A June 30th, 1988 article in the BDN states that the bunker is still housing prisoners, and that they're well behaved....
• September 14th, 1988 - It's noted in the BDN that the bunker may close. May. The idea of the civil service bunker as a prison died a long slow death, apparently. 
• *October 20th 1988 article from the Umaine paper indicating that while it was recently vacant, the bunker had a renewed lease from the county to house inmates. Bonus content on the next page with a big ol' banner reading "homosexuality normal." Absolute time capsule. 
• On May 24th, 1989, the Bangor Daily ran a story titled "Survey finds county towns leaning to central dispatching" about rural towns pooling resources to handle 911 and other emergency calls. The bunker was mentioned as "one possible location in...in Old Town, which in 1986 was converted into temporary housing for women inmates while the Penobscot County Jail remained under construction. It served that purpose until last year." Whats somewhat exciting about this story is that the county was considering using the facility as it was intended to be used.
• April 25th, 1990, the BDN ran the story "Dirigo Search, Rescue Association requests use of former Old Town Civil Defense bunker." in which it was rather enthusiastically stated that the site "may get a new life as the home of Dirigo Search and Rescue Association." Penobscot County comissioners did not make a decision, and the plan to use the bunker did not materialize.
• March 7th, 1991, the story "Register of county deeds organizes real estate group" had mentioned the bunker as a potential storage facility for "original photostatic record books" related to deed documents. The story in the paper makes no mention as to whether or not the plan was put into motion. 
• *January 25th, 1993 - 25 firefighters remove canisters from the bunker which had been leaking some form of toxic sludge. 
• March 27th, 1995, 10 University of Maine students were charged with criminal trespassing after an anonymous phone call reported that someone was "breaking" into the building. This may have been prior to the thing being cemented in/sealed.
• *November 20th, 1996. A University of Maine student from Germany attempts to create his own Cavern Club using the bunker.  
• *November 22nd, 1996 in which we find that the student's plan was rejected AND said plan made University Administration aware that the bunker was accessible. So...we now know the date that it was sealed up. 
• September 28th, 2004 is the last reference to the bunker made in local media. In a piece called "Civil defense bunker falls to time" , the writer highlights bits of the history of Old Town's Civil Defense Bunker. 
• Report indicates that the bunker has had doors welded shut, duct holes filled with concrete, and its entrance shafts filled with earth to prevent further damage by "vandals" and to prevent injuries to those seeking to gain access.
• University VP (as of 2004) states that it's improbable, but not impossible for the school to make use of the site.
• The food stores in the bunker were found to not have survived, they were "bug infested" and unfit.

 I have made an effort to contact two of the ten persons listed in the police blotter from 1995. From the graffiti photographed by the ue-Bangor group, a bunch of the graffiti that now marrs the place was from that year.

Everything's been sealed. However in the 2004 article linked above, the president of the university did say that it was only improbable, but not impossible that the university would once again make use of the bunker.

"Interest in maintaining the bunker was also waning in the 1980s as America prospered and communism faltered and the Berlin Wall fell. "The whole picture changed...we stopped watching for the flash." 

-The Bangor Daily News, September 28th, 2004.

Bomarc Missile Battery Site: Part II of II

The gate at the Bomarc missile base, circa early 1960s. The guard house and building to the right still stand, the water tower has been replaced. 

I previously wrote about scouting around the perimeter of the Dow AFB's missile defense site in this post and delved some more into how these supersonic unmanned (nuclear capable) interceptors in Bangor's backyard had fit into the greater scheme here.

I ended up re-visiting the rows of actual missile launch houses at the site, daring to get a bit closer to the businesses who occupy the "business park."

Blast doors that will likely never open again.

Where this is my final post on the Bomarc missile defense site, let's take a look at a snippet from the Lewiston Daily Sun, from November 16th, 1957:

"PORTLAND, Nov. 15 AP - A 10 million dollar installation to be built at Bangor will be equipped with the Bomarc guided missile which boasts a range of 300 miles. Brig. Gen. Alden Sibley, commander of the New England district of Army Engineers said the defense installation would be constructed near Dow Air Force Base. He didn't say when the construction would begin."

According to Air Force Magazine, Bangor was one of the very first Bomarc bases to have been built, along with Cape Cod, Long Island, and the ill-fated (and still largely irradiated) McGuire AFB in New Jersey. Continuing along, toward the current day, let's dip into this snippet from the Bangor Daily News, from May 1st, 1958:

BANGOR --- The Army Engineers, New England Division, informed US Sen Frederick G Payne that about 750 men will be employed on the construction of the Bomarc site in Bangor. They expect that probably some 800 to 900 men will be needed on the construction during the summer months.

The John A. Volpe Construction Co. of Malden, Mass, has been awarded the contract for the Bangor Bomarc Missile site. 

The property where Boeing Airplane Co's missiles will be located covers more than 50 acres of land and runs from Burleigh Rd to Broadway and Essex St. 

J.R. Cianchette Sr. has the work of clearing land in preparation for construction and work has already been in progress on this phase of the program. 

The Bomarc base, such as the one to be built at Dow, consists of a lunching area where the missiles will be kept in a "ready status", a support area where missiles are maintained and inspected, and a "cantonment" area which will provide the necessary housekeeping activities.

I've looked up the number for Volpe Construction in Malden, if I have any luck I'll update the post.

But in the mean time, let's have a look at what's left of the missile launch houses in bangor.

Bomarc Launch Buildings in Bangor

The above image was taken while standing between two rows of missile launch buildings. I took that photo while standing on a mound of grass indicating a conduit/utility tunnel between the missile prep building and the readiness area. Here's a photo of the vent for the 6x6 tunnel:

$10 to put your head in there.

Below is what the buildings would have looked more like if they were left untouched.

Courtesy Urbexobsession - Bomarc site in Ontario - I did not take this photo

These buildings have been modified nearly beyond recognition. But while we're on the topic, below is what one of them would have looked something like, had the site not been turned into a business/self storage park.

Same site in Ontario - I did not take this photo

Notice the folding roof that would have allowed vertical launch. It's very sad that very little is left onsite in Bangor.



-T

Milford's forgotten B-17 Training Area (Pre Visit) Part 2 of 2 : Phantom POW Camp?

In my last post I discussed the abandoned airfield up in Milford and how that since it was built in 1942, and the Memphis Belle was delivered to its crew in the same year at Dow AFB, and the Milford site was the only precision bombing range near the Dow AFB (until 1948) -- that it's possible (but unfortunately, unverifiable) that that the Memphis Belle could have touched down in the middle of mud-run country.

Another neat piece of lore surrounding the 70 year old strip of pavement in the middle of nowhere is that the site was used as overflow for Camp Houlton.

Camp Houlton, for those unfamiliar with Maine's military history, was

"...a prisoner-of-war camp for captured German soldiers ...in Houlton with other satellite sites around the region. Many of the prisoners elected to work on local farms planting and harvesting potatoes, working in the woods and in a local food processing plant. Working for about a dollar a day, the same pay as a private in the German army, the POWs worked hard and were appreciated by the local residents."

-The Aroostook Historical and Art Museum

Satellite sites. What strikes me as curious, and why I'm willing to call this site "Milford's Phantom POW camp" is because of the following statement from one Gus LeBlanc

“My uncle John was stationed at Dow AFB (now Bangor International) as a SAC commander.I was also told by my uncle John that the field was used during WW2 to train medium bomber pilots on short field landings & take offs. He also indicated that the site was used briefly towards the end of the war to temporarily house some German POWs due to the camp in Aroostook County being full.”

-Airfields-Freeman.com

Now, the Milford airfield had fallen out of heavy use as time progressed and flying fortresses gave way to much heavier flying superfortresses, it's possible that Mr LeBlanc was correct. Several references are found in local media to an 'overflow' camp in Bangor. Having spent a fair amount of time trying to find any records of a POW camp in Bangor with no results, is it possible that the Milford air strip is the overflow site incorrectly attributed as in 'Bangor?'

It's also possible that I'm completely wrong and that the city has omitted this bit of its history, whether accidentally or intentionally. Bangor is the type of city that, in the past, has been willing to demolish grandeur in favor of "modernization", so it's possible that we'll never know.

It's one of those historical mysteries that, unfortunately, require some word of mouth to solve with any sense of conclusion.

Air Raid Sirens of Bangor - McGuire Building (?)

On a not-so-warm spring evening, I was accompanying a friend in downtown Bangor as they dropped coffee off to their spouse. As the car idled in the parking lot of Bangor's very own Mos Eisley, he nodded behind us and asked what "that thing" was in the rear view mirror, on top of the historic McGuire building.

The McGuire Building in 1942

-Courtesy Maine Memory Network and the Bangor Public Library

Knowing that he knows I'm into odd historical things, I got out of the car and looked at what he was pointing out. 

Let's examine this a little more closely:

This object is either: 

• A gigantic "Smoker's Cease Fire" bucket.
• A bad reproduction of a middle-eastern style minaret in a dying timber/wartown in the whitest state in the nation. 
• An obese neckbeard in the world's shittiest Punisher costume. 
• A Rosie O'Donnell inspired cupola. 
• An air raid siren. 

If you've read any of this blog before,  you should know that I'm not terribly interested in giant cigarette buckets, white people's minarets, a neckbeard dressed like the Punisher, or a Rosie O'Donnell inspired cupola.

I'm pretty sure what I'm looking at is an air raid siren from back when they needed to paint the Thomas Hill Standpipe olive drab; also pretty sure that this is an air raid siren because of the shape/scale. However...the flared out bottom does indeed sow seeds of doubt. Could this just be a cupola?

I'd love to find out whether or not this is indeed an air raid siren. I'll try to update this post when I get access to binoculars, telescope...x-ray specs...something.

-T

Dow AFB GATR Site | Bangor

Nestled in the middle of a bedroom community for Bangor, on a cross road between two main thoroughfares are the remains of Dow AFB's Ground to Air Transmit & Receiver site. The two beheaded towers flank the town office and stand watch over the town's public safety building, and a basketball court. 

Assuming the town hall was built after the USAF had pulled out of Bangor, this site would have been used to transmit/receive communications between manned interceptor aircraft (the 75th Fighter/Interceptor squadron, flying F-106 Delta Darts) at Dow and the SAGE computer site farther downstate.

According to an article appearing in the Maine Commons, 09/2002, titled "Cold War Residue in Glenburn" (Catherine Schmidtt), there used to be an entire communications array behind the building. Apparently the property was acquired by the US Government in 1958, to house a computer and radar system that would communicate with the air base at Dow and the Bomarc missiles nearby. Sadly, as of 2013, the satellite communications array behind the building has been demolished.

A better view

[Retro Tech] The Doomsday Shitter

This isn't so much a post about a Cold War era site, but rather a Cold War era artifact...and it's not really 'tech.' It's just a steel barrel that you shit in.

Around this time of year in my youth, I'd be tasked with helping to take down "winter clothes" from a shed/garage. Usually they'd be in plastic totes, but sometimes -- they were in these drums with white lettering on them. These brown drums had kind of been an object form my childhood that I never really thought much about. All I knew about them growing up is that they sucked to try to hold on to and walk down the stairs.

A few months ago, I was helping my father do some garage-cleaning and found one of the green drums.

Since my 1st Gen Samsung Galaxy's camera has the resolution of a potato, here's what the text on the drum actually says:

To Fill: Remove drum cover. Insert plastic bag liner assembly and fill liner with approved tap water by inserting clean hose into bag spout. DO NOT FILL DRUM WITHOUT USING PLASTIC BAG LINER. Fill to water fill line, twist spout and double back on itself and tie tightly with wire tie. Replace drum cover.

To Dispense: Remove cover. Unfasten spout, insert siphon tube about 3/4 lengths into bag liner and pinch siphon tube. pull tube downward 12 to 18 inches which will start flow of water. release and fill individual containers. 

To reuse as a commode: Cut top seam of inner bag for full width of bag, spread mouth of bags over and down around top opening of drum about 4 inches. add waste treatment chemical, place commode seat on drum. When waste is to sanitary fill line, close mouth of bag and tie with wire tie. DO NOT REMOVE FILLED BAGS. Replace drum cover.