City of Dallas,
Civil Defense
Old Emergency Operations Center Virtual Tour
Outside the EOC Front Entry
DormitoryNEW
Communications
Operations Room
Radef/Operations
Mayor's Office
Mens RestroomNEW
Mechanical Room
AirFilterSystemNEW
Kitchen
Hallway
Outside Entrance
Back to Shelter Tours Main
Back to Civil Defense Museum Main
This virtual tour was updated with new photos and information March 9, 2003.
New clickable plan of shelter, see bottom of this page.
A Very Special Thanks to Walt Zwirko for arranging the second tour!
This headline and rendering of the Dallas Health and Science Museum with the proposed "Civil Defense Command Post" was featured on the front page of the May 22,1959 issue of The Dallas Times Herald. This artist's rendering is interesting, I can't figure out what is going on in the underground room. It looks like a giant atom is being displayed on a huge oval viewing screen of some sort.
Here is the building as it appears today. Formerly known as the Health and Science Museum, this building is now the secondary building to the Science Place at Fair Park in Dallas Texas.
The first version of this section of the CD Museum was done a few years ago. I can't remember the date when the folks at the Science Place allowed the first photo tour. It was early 2001 or early 2000. I can remember which. Anyway, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, Walt Zwirko, arranged another tour in March of 2003 after getting in touch with me about the web site.
Thanks Walt! I just finished updating this tour with some new photos interspersed throughout the tour. The update was done on March 9, 2003 with the addition of a new page featuring, the most fascinating thing about the shelter to me, the air filtering system.
Shelter History
The old Dallas Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is located under the playground in front of the Science Place Planetarium Building at Fair Park in Dallas Tx. This EOC was to function as a relocation shelter for Dallas govt. officials in the event of a nuclear attack. It was from this shelter that officials would have tried to coordinate recovery efforts involving community shelters, radiological monitors, police, fire, sanitation and other services. Construction of the EOC lasted from 1960 to 1961 at a cost of $120,000. The City of Dallas paid $60,000 and the Federal govt. paid the additional $60,000. This shelter is a blast shelter in the true sense of the term. It is equipped with large concrete and steel blast doors which bolt shut when closed for sealing purposes. The exterior blast door is plainly visible next to the sidewalk on the southeast side of the building. The EOC also is equipped with air ventilators containing "anti-blast valves" which would close to prevent blast pressure from entering the shelter. The air circulation system was built with a separate air filtration room complete with a wall of air filters to remove fallout contaminants from the incoming air. According to a March 27, 1962 Dallas Times Herald article the shelter was officially opened on April 1st, 1962 at 3pm. The shelter is now closed to any public access and is only used for storage purposes by the Science Place.
Click on the plan to visit the various areas in the shelter.
| A- Front Entry | E-Operations Room | I-Men's Restroom |
| B-Women's Restroom | F-Radef Operations | J-Mechanical Room |
| C-Communications Room | G-Mayor's Office | K-Air Filtering/Escape Hatch |
| D-Dormitory | H-Kitchen | L-Rear Entries |
I would like to thank the personnel at the Science Place for allowing us to take the photos of the shelter and The Dallas Public Library, Dallas history section for digging up the old newspaper articles. Newspaper articles and photos were reprinted with the permission of the Dallas Morning News.
| Go to Entry | Back to Shelter Tours Main | ||
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