Coldwar-Ct.com

UH Fallout Shelter

On September 4, 1962, the University of Hartford received a Fallout Shelter License from the director of civil defense of the Department of Defense. Reportedly a survey of the campus undertaken by the Hartford Office of Civil Defense had previously revealed that the basement of University Hall (now called Hillyer Hall) met the criteria as a fallout shelter. The actual survey was undertaken by Stelling Lord-Wood Van Suetendael under contract to the Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks. A letter from the City of Hartford dated July 6, 1962 states "(the space) will be marked and stocked with supplies at Federal expense."

Main entrance to Hillyer Hall on the University of Hartford campus, formally known as University Hall. In the sixties the basement of this building was designated and equipped as a bomb shelter.

During an alert students and faculty would be instructed to access the
shelter via these stairs.

Much of the buildings basement is filled with huge heating/cooling ducts and mechanical equipment and the entire basement area is used as a return air plenum.
This system is original and would certainly have made keeping fallout out of the space difficult.

The basement has been used for storage for decades.

We found the remains of government supplied shelter supplies in one corner of the basement.
These are barrels of water.

Cartons of survival biscuits.

Survival biscuits and a container of iodide apparently from the
first aid supplies.