School Fallout Shelter - North Attleborough, Massachusetts
Posted by: 401Photos
N 41° 58.834 W 071° 20.065
19T E 306604 N 4650253
The former North Attleborough Junior High School - now known as Community School - in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, served as a public Civil Defense Fallout Shelter. A metal placard remains affixed to the north exterior side of the building.
Waymark Code: WM16FBD
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/20/2022
Views: 0
The former North Attleborough Junior High School - now known as Community School - in North Attleborogh, Massachusetts, served as a public Civil Defense Fallout Shelter. Its standard fallout shelter sign is in good condition, though the capacity and black paint have faded since the duck-and-cover era. The metal placard remains fixed to the left side of the entryway with steps along the north side of the building at a point about one third the red brick wall's length from the west corner.
An undated Community Shelter Plans brochure from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts lists protective locations by county and town for the southeastern part of the state. Each area - generally county - appears on a single page with a map, town names, and instructions to "1. Follow the instructions below, 2. ...take whatever food and water you can carry as well as medicines, 3. Public shelter only for those people without home basements." This place is listed as "High School Bldg. Route 1" in North Attleborough on the Bristol County page. (Unmarked, but it is page #8.) The 28-page booklet includes a note from the Civil Defense Agency, general information and instructions, shelter allocation maps by city and town, an explanation of the maps, a family shelter checklist, home supplies, home shelter preparation guidelines, and a final page for using boats as protection and what to do on a farm beginning with "You should place as much of your livestock and produce in barns as you can."
Note: The building is still used as a school. Though the sign is clearly visible and just a few yards from the Town Hall public parking lot, please be judicious when visiting this location and consider how to avoid regularly scheduled class time.