Indian Hill Historical Society
8100 Given Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45243

"Keeping Indian Hill's past and present alive for tomorrow"

Indian Hill Fallout Shelters

During the "Cold War," Americans felt threatened by the possibility of an Atomic War and sought ways to survive a nuclear attack. Some families in Indian Hill constructed fallout shelters, and Village Council studied the feasibility of community shelters.

In the 1950's the destruction of Hiroshima/Nagasaki was a devastating memory, and the Korean War stalemate led to unease over relations with the Communists. With the Soviet Union boasting of its nuclear power, the anxiety level of the U.S. population increased. The Eisenhower administration distributed survival information and created a Federal Civil Defense Administration (later the Office of Civil Defense) to educate the public about protection. Survival literature was written primarily for a suburban audience since it was assumed that cities would be targets and most urban dwellers would not survive. Because Cincinnati was an industrial giant (jet engine manufacturing and machine tool specialization) and was located near Wright Patterson AFB, southwestern Ohio would be a likely bomb target. 

Since Soviet missiles could strike the U.S. with only 30 minutes warning, people began taking precautions. School children were taught "duck and cover" maneuvers--bent under school desks with covered heads. Identification bracelets were sold to parents so that deceased children could later be identified. Good Housekeeping advocated shelters, Popular Mechanics offered blueprints of them to their readers, and Life featured a civilian fallout suit on its cover. People believed the subterranean bunkers would protect them from radioactive dust after a nuclear bomb explosion.

Survival manuals stated citizens could emerge from fallout shelters after two weeks. Civil Defense suggested plans for these structures in basements, converted cisterns, or other below ground surfaces. Suggested equipment included air filtering systems, generators, chemical toilets, waste disposal bags, water storage drums, cots or beds, Geiger counters, portable radios, first aid kits, auxiliary escape hatches, and a variety of foodstuffs - including "survival biscuits". More elaborate family foxholes had heat and air conditioning units. Some owners of fallout shelters kept guns inside--to stop unwanted intruders or looters.

Private bunkers existed within the Village on Kugler Mill, Given, Redbirdhollow, Councilrock, and Indian Hill Roads. Some were architect-designed, but many residents simply kept a basement corner supplied. 

In autumn 1961, President Kennedy urged Americans to build the protective structures at the height of the Berlin Wall Crisis. Indian Hill's Village Council, noting "the wisdom of providing protection from radioactive fallout", considered establishing community shelters in both existing and proposed structures. The Miami Rd. Water Tower and Drake Rd. Elementary School were considered adaptable to house 600 persons each. The proposed I.H. High School and CCDS auditorium might be expanded (at $200,000 cost) to include basements to accommodate 2600 people. A Citizen's Committee reviewed the proposals; but, when it became clear that funding was not available, Council deferred action. 

By the mid-1960's American's fears about the bomb lessened. As arms controls talks and a limited nuclear test ban eased tensions, plans for building additional public shelters were postponed, and builders received fewer inquiries for private ones. Shelters were converted to wine cellars, mushroom gardens, recreation rooms, or storage areas. The underground quarters that remain in the Village are relics of the Cold War era--hopefully never to serve their original purpose.