SYRACUSE, NY

Syracuse, NY is a city in Central New York state of just over 140,000 residents. It sits about 4 hours north of New York City, and in known for it’s namesake school, Syracuse University. It is also home to several other universities and a major hospital complex, and sits adjacent to Onondaga Lake, which is the name of the county where it is located.

After research by our lead correspondent Tim showed that the city still had a number of Fallout Shelter signs present on its buildings, FFZ took a field trip out to document the remaining (and some removed) signs.

1: 304-306 WEST JEFFERSON STREET

Exterior signs: 1 (Not authentic)

Oddly, this building had an exterior Fallout Shelter sign that was in fact not genuine. The sign appeared to be printed on plastic, and although had an almost real look based on the design, was faded and somewhat broken. It is a mystery why this sign was posted, as the city had several other real signs.

2: PRINCE OF PEACE CHURCH

Exterior signs: 2 (1 each on separate buildings)

3: PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Exterior signs: 1

ONONDAGA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (FORMER BELL TELEPHONE BUILDING)

Exterior signs: 1

This shelter was actually featured in a story in CNY Central shortly after the January 2018 Hawaii ballistic missile scare, and according to the story the building and shelter had some interesting safety features built in. The sticker on the bottom of the sign is of unknown origin, but from a distance looked like an authentic shelter arrow.

FORMER MASONIC TEMPLE

Exterior sign: Removed before 2011

Directly across the street from the Onondaga Historical Society was this former Masonic Temple, which had distinct marks of a former sign.

YWCA BUILDING

Exterior sign: Removed before 2011

Several other buildings were present in the city that either appeared to have once had signs or were definitely the right construction and size to have been a shelter, but did not currently have signs posted, at least on the exterior.

Syracuse was a fun working vacation to visit, and if you currently reside or work in the city and know of other shelter locations, please let us know.

All photos taken on July 25, 2021 and owned by Fallout Five Zero

Special thanks to lead correspondent Tim for providing the research for this project as well as the logistics and accompaniment for the site visit.