Posts Tagged ‘Wave’
Urban Legend Alert
1950s deactivated Elmhurst Illinois Atomic fallout/blast bunker.
Information for this video was compiled from a number of anecdotal accounts. So far there is only one secondary source which is the book, “Elmhurst Parks And Recreation 1920-1990″. This Elmhurst Park District Publication states, in Apendix C on pp 81; “abandoned reservoir used as Civil Defense headquarters which serves as a small sledding hill”. The book is at the Elmhurst Public Library ( H 352.73 JOH Non-Circulating ).
In the 1950s Elmhurst had a Civil Defense orginazation which was formed around city government. In April of 1953 the City Council passed a CD ordinance based upon the State model. The Council payed for city employees to travel to CD seminars and at one point the council even had a geiger counter demonstrated in/near the old city building (Glos Mansion).
Other area CD preperations included a 100 man emergency hospital located in the basement of York High School (the old basement track). The Chicago metropolitan area even had Nike Surface to Air (SAM) missiles located in over a dozen sites around the region. One of the radar/launch sites was in Addison (RT 53 & Army Trail RD).
We are trying to get as much information on this as possible. The site is indeed an old concrete water tank but close examination reveals that the entrance was rebuilt for a purpose other than storing water. In fact this modification would prevent water storage. It is possible that it was meant to be converted into a storage unit but one must wonder why the entrance was rebuilt with so much concrete?
In terms of a blast shelter it “might” protect you in the event of a Hiroshima size device being dropped on the Loop. However if a thermonuclear bomb/missile (Hydrogen H-Bomb) detonated anywhere within ten miles it is very doubtful that this reconditioned water tank would be much protection. Additionally the resulting firestorm would suck all the air out the shelter smothering anyone inside (who might have lived through the blast). In terms of a “Fallout Shelter” this place would have good protection, from the Gamma Wave radiation, with something like 12″ concrete all around and dirt banked up against the walls.
We invite anyone with information on this structure to contact either this page or the Elmhurst Historical Museum. Any and all contributions are appreciated be they pro or con.
Duration : 0:2:40
No one could stop John Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone — from his girlfriend Billie Frechette to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’ gang — later including Baby Face Nelson and Alvin Karpis — thrilled many, J. Edgar Hoover made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Melvin Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI.” However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’ men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals — from the infamous “Lady in Red” to the chicago crime boss Frank Nitti — were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.
No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillingers gang—later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi)—thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaws capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI.
He made Dillinger Americas first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing Clark Gable of the FBI. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals—from the infamous Lady in Red to the chicago crime boss Frank Nitti—were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.
Duration : 0:1:26
No one could stop John Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone — from his girlfriend Billie Frechette to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillinger’ gang — later including Baby Face Nelson and Alvin Karpis — thrilled many, J. Edgar Hoover made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Melvin Purvis, the dashing “Clark Gable of the FBI.” However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis’ men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals — from the infamous “Lady in Red” to the chicago crime boss Frank Nitti — were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.
No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone—from his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Cotillard) to an American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression. But while the adventures of Dillingers gang—later including the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi)—thrilled many, Hoover (Billy Crudup) hit on the idea of exploiting the outlaws capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI.
He made Dillinger Americas first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing Clark Gable of the FBI. However, Dillinger and his gang outwitted and outgunned Purvis men in wild chases and shootouts. Only after importing a crew of Western ex-lawmen (newly baptized as agents) and orchestrating epic betrayals—from the infamous Lady in Red to the chicago crime boss Frank Nitti—were Purvis, the FBI and their new crew of gunfighters able to close in on Dillinger.
Duration : 0:2:47