New Orleans Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center (1962-1980s)

The New Orleans Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center was part of a series of fallout shelters throughout the city. There was also a warning system of 76 large sirens that would indicate an impending attack. In 1950 Louisiana created the Civil Defense Agency where each community would establish a local organization for civil defense in accordance with state plans. In 1952 the Office of Civil Defense of New Orleans was commissioned to create a plan to prepare for, coordinate, and carry out emergency plans as a result of enemy attack or natural disaster. In the early days of its operation, the Secret Service would inspect the bunker to make sure it was fully prepared in case the President would need to evacuate to New Orleans.

The New Orleans Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center was closed in the early 1980’s and appears frozen in time. Now abandoned it houses filing cabinets filled with moldering papers and Cold War Era communications. The main circular station room has maps of various fallout shelters and emergency plans. The second floor holds the sleeping quarters, bathrooms, and a small dining hall. There is also an infirmary fully stocked with hypodermic needles still on trays and examining tables. The pantry is still full of rusted cans of Campbell's Soup, buckets of drinking water, and canisters of coffee.

Numerous videographers and photographers have been into the bunker and revealed several of the rooms to be flooded and the walls to be covered in graffiti. The doors of the New Orleans Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center were welded shut in 2009 to prevent further people from going inside. In 1985, a legislative act put the bunker under the control of the Orleans Levee Board, and today it is under the control of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Agency. There are several options that have been looked in terms of what to do with the bunker next. First the bunker could be filled in with concrete. This has been determined to not be a viable option. Second, is to clean it out and then destroy it. Third is to restore it and turn it into a museum or historical site. Today the bunker sits unnoticed, and between the site and Robert E. Lee Boulevard is a new subdivision where the helicopter pad for the New Orleans Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center was located. 

Woodard, Matt. Civil Defense Control Center, New Orleans Historical. Accessed July 22nd 2020. https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/274.

Roberts III, Faimon A. Explore: 2 stories underground in New Orleans, spooky Cold War-era bunker untouched, NOLA.com. September 30th 2017. Accessed July 22nd 2020. https://www.nola.com/news/article_da0a686f-d045-55c0-b72d-7a7462b61fc2.html.

, Glasenator. Civil Defense Control Center, Atlas Obscura. Accessed July 22nd 2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/civil-defense-control-center.