Fallout Shelter sign MBTA – Fallout Five Zero

An unidentified man is seen sitting under a Fallout Shelter sign at Boylston Street Station in this undated photo by contributor Richard Sullivan.

Boylston Street was one downtown subway station that had Civil Defense items, including water barrels, which are now dumped at the end of an abandoned tunnel.

Boylston Street was also connected by a passageway to the Little Building, located at Boylston and Tremont Streets, which was also marked as a shelter. The passageway no longer exists.

Photo taken and owned by Richard Sullivan. Special thanks to him for sending this and giving us permission to use it.

This photo in the Boston Globe, taken by Boston Globe staff photographer Ellis Herwig on March 18, 1970 shows a couple walking by (or perhaps parting ways) outside the entrance to Arlington Station on Arlington Street. While the majority of downtown stations were marked (and some stocked) as shelters, this is the first photo I’ve seen of signage on Arlington Station.

This entrance still exists today at the southwest corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets. The former tony jeweler Shreve, Crump, and Low was once across the street but moved to Newbury Street in 2012.

No caption was with the photo, but one wonders if they had different ideas of where to go.

© 2020 Fallout Five Zero

Image taken by Ellis Herwig on March 18, 1970 and owned by Boston Globe.

Tag: Fallout Shelter sign MBTA

Love is in the air, refuge is underground