Ashland WI: Saron Luthern Church
The following photographs were taken on 2 July, 2022
Very little information was available regarding the US Civil Defense Fallout Shelter located under Ashland’s Saron Lutheran Church, but the caretakers were kind enough to allow the author to enter and photograph the site as it exists today.
Like all of the shelters in the City of Ashland, there is no longer any visible external sign in place, and in this case neither is there any indicator of the former use of the area as it now stands. The shelter area itself is located in a room off of the church’s basement kitchen and social hall, with a heavy old style firedoor. The room itself is bare concrete, and is located directly underneath the ninth avenue entrance to the church, with the roof noticably sloping under the outdoor stairs above. The room is now devoted to housing the furnace and related equipment, and all Civil Defense supplies and equipment were reported to have been disposed of long ago.
Gallery
The entrance door to the shelter, located in the kitchen of the basement social hall
The inside of the door, showing the interior latch and metal construction
Information marked on the interior of the door
The interior of the shelter space, which doubles as the furnace room
A view of the opposite side of the shelter space, with the steel ceiling (under the entrance stairs above) visible
Another view of the outside of the shelter area, with the thickness of the outer wall of the shelter area apparent