National Fallout Shelter Program Public Shelters Virtual Tours
Peoples National Bank. Paris, Texas
In December 2005 I received an e-mail from Jennifer Dressel a former resident of Paris Texas about a fallout shelter that might still have some food stocks still in place. Here is what she said in her e-mail......
"Hi, I too share your interest in CD. We used to live in Paris, Tx. There is a three story bank on one of the corners of the square. They have a fallout shelter there with the old food still intact. It is a horrible mess. I was told that it is mandatory that it is kept there even though it is clearly inedible. You might want to check it out. Jennifer"
Finally! I get an e-mail about a shelter that is within a reasonable driving
distance from where I live that might still have some supplies in place.
I drove out to Paris on January 3rd to check it out. Here's what I found....
Click any photo to enlarge.
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When I arrived in Paris, TX I went to the town square and straight to the large bank building on the southwest corner. I drove around to the side and spotted the shelter sign by the side entrance. The capacity on the sign is 500. The building is really a neat old building with a vintage old style bank lobby. I went in and looked for someone to ask about the supplies. A gentleman in the front office by the door asked if he could help me and I told him why I was there. I was surprised when he knew exactly what I was talking about. I usually get blank looks with kind of a "huh" from people when I make fallout shelter inquiries. He said the stuff was still down there and took me straight down into the basement when I asked if I could take a look at the stuff.
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Here is the west side of the building with the side entrance. The building has a full basement. The basement area includes the area under the sidewalk. We walked under the sidewalk around to the front of the building. The photo at right is under the west side of the building sidewalk looking toward the front of the building. The shelter stuff is around the far corner to the right, under the sidwalk at the front of the building.
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Jennifer was absolutely correct in her e-mail. The stuff was and still is a horrible mess. There was about an inch of water on the floor and one of the stacks had fallen over into the water. The cases were all survival biscuits. Some of the cans were rusting and disintegrating into the rusty/nasty water. I didn't count the cases but there were at least 50 cases of biscuits. It was worth the drive even though the stuff was in such bad shape. Thanks Jennifer for the e-mail lead on the shelter supplies!