National Fallout Shelter Program Public Shelters Virtual Tours
Old Power Plant, Weatherford, Texas
On August 01, 2008 I went driving around west of the D/FW area exploring and looking for old stuff with my son. Since we were going out that way I decided to take the opportunity to bother some of the Emergency Management people in the area to ask about old CD stuff. I was planning to check-in with the Parker County, the Weatherford Tx. EM director and the Mineral Wells/Palo Pinto county EM director. Our first stop was Weatherford. I first tried the Parker County EM director in Weatherford but he wasn't in so we then went to check-in on the Weatherford EM director who was in his office.
Most of the time when I'm scrounging for old CD stuff I call ahead when I go by an EM office but this time I didn't. Seems like the drop-in visits work out for the best alot of the time. The Weatherford EM director was an enjoyable person to talk to and he remembered something about some old shelter supplies being in the basement at the old Weatherford power plant building. He told me that about 10 years ago (before this visit in) he remembered opening a old can of shelter crackers there but he didn't know if the stuff was still at the power plant or not. I thanked him for his help and we set off to check out the old power plant.
The old power plant is right next to the city service center so I stopped in there to ask about it. That led to a chain of events which ended up in a visit to the basement of the power plant and the discovery of the best pile of shelter supplies I have found still in place since I started this CD museum site. It's been since the late 1980s since I have seen a shelter with a decent stock of supplies. Now, finally, I found a good example to show here.
Fallout Shelter Sign Over Front Door
I can usually spot a shelter sign on a building a mile away but this one is a bit covered-up. Actually, I passed this building when first driving into town but I didn't see the shelter sign because of the ivy. I remarked to my son something like "look at that old funky place" when we went by it the first time. The capacity number is too faded to make out on the sign. The building looks a little neglected from the outside mainly because of some painting that needs to be done on the window frames but the inside turned out to be another story all together.
Generators
After a few hours and several calls I met a gentleman who works with the city electric utilities at the power plant. When we went inside I was amazed! It was like going back in time 50 years. The building houses 6 huge generators that are all in operable condition. The man with the utilites dept. said that they hadn't started them in about a year though. The floor level shown in this photo is just a little higher than the outside ground level. There is a basement below the floor level which is where the fallout shelter area is. The room at the far end of the building in the photo is where the basement access is located.
Fallout Shelter Area and Shelter Supplies
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Here are the two sets of stairs down to the basement area at the east end of the building where the shelter supplies are stored. There is some piping and other equipment in the basement. I can't believe I forgot to take some overall photos of the basement area. I guess I was so preoccupied with the supplies that I forgot to do it. The basement area is not a completely open room because the foundations for the massive generators take up a lot of space down there. Click photos to see larger.
Fallout Shelter Supplies
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The shelter supplies are in a typical "way-back-in-a-corner-out-of-the-way" shelter supply storage location. They are between one of the generator foundations and the back basement wall of the building. In the pile of stuff was 30+ water barrels, a few Sanitation Kit IVs and a dozen or so cases of shelter crackers. The overall condition was ok. This is a very good example of a stock of fallout shelter supplies. The only thing missing that might commonly be found with a stock like this is a medical kit or two. The photos above are looking towards the east in the back southeast corner of the building. The generator foundation is on the left side and the back wall of the building is on the right in the photo.Click photos to see larger.
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The photo at right above is looking towards the west from the other end of the area where the supplies are located. It's been about 20 years since I have found a decent pile of shelter supplies like this. The pile of rotten crackers in the bank in Paris Texas really didn't count as a decent stock of supplies. I always get a strange feeling when looking over a stock of shelter supplies like this. I always think to myself that when this stuff was put in place it was expected to have been used in the event of a nuclear war. It's almost like the stuff has been sitting waiting all these years for something to happen. I guess looking back in there and seeing all those ominous labels on the boxes and barrels is what brings that feeling up. It's just incredible to me that after 40+ years there are still stocks of supplies out there sitting in shelters like this. Click photos to see larger.