Cold War Bunker Signs Keep Turning Up In Michigan Towns

Someone spotted a Cold War-era fallout shelter sign in Muskegon, and suddenly people all over Michigan started sharing where they'd seen them, too.

After the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, the Federal and local governments were thinking a lot about how to survive a nuclear attack.  The 1950s and 60s were full of nuclear war drills and the construction of many fallout shelters.  That's why the Federal Civil Defense Administration was created.

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Part of that coordination was educating the public with campaigns, classroom drills, and so on. As if hiding under a desk would somehow protect you. It seems silly now, but a big part of that campaign was pushing for fallout shelters. In fact, if you find yourself buying a home built in the 50s, you might want to check the backyard, as homemade fallout shelters were also very common back then. Thank goodness we never needed them. You can read more about the history of fallout shelters in America here.

Keep your eyes open, because these signs have been spotted all over Michigan.

Photo by Leon Bredella on Unsplash

Russ S. recently posted a picture in the Facebook group Abandoned, Old and Interesting Places in Michigan of one of these signs he happened to stumble upon in Muskegon. Commenters quickly validated that what he was seeing was real and, apparently, common.

Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Midland still have tons of these out. Every public school building in Midland is equipped with a fallout shelter - Paige P. 

All of the old AT&T buildings throughout Michigan have these - Matt M.

Yep, I saw some in Flint as well, and when we were up in the Manistee area, some of the buildings had them too... - Bill R. 

There were other accounts of sightings in Marshall, Grand Rapids, and other Michigan towns.

There are a couple of different ways you can try to locate these defunct fallout shelters. You can do a quick search on Google. Some individuals have made their own maps pinpointing fallout shelters. For example, this one, which focuses specifically on the Grand Rapids area.

You can also spot many of these fallout shelter signs while walking around your downtown area or even from the Google Maps Street View. Take a look:

Wait, Would Michigan be a Nuclear Target?

With the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the senseless war between the United States and Iran, anything is possible.

Remember, during the Cold War, everyone was preparing for the possibility of a bomb dropping at any moment. The abundance of fallout shelters isn't indicative of a higher threat.

There are high-risk targets around the U.S.  Check out the list below.