Following World War II, a tense relationship developed between the United States and the Soviet Union, two of the world’s superpowers. Marked by deep divisions between capitalism and communism, and fears of nuclear attacks, the tension was so great that even small towns in the USA, including Bradford, felt its impact.

This was the Cold War. It began in 1947 with the Truman Doctrine, which established the United States as defender of the free world pledging political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat. It ended in the 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union.

In today’s world, it can be difficult perhaps to understand the mindset of the country during those years. But for Americans in the 1950s who remembered World War II, the thought of an enemy attack on American soil was unthinkable — and very frightening.

Many in Bradford believed that Kendall refinery, Dresser Manufacturing, and other key industrial companies in the city were potential targets for destruction. Throughout the 1950s, and well into the 1960s, Bradford prepared for a nuclear attack by organizing local civil air patrols, air attack observation posts, public fallout shelters in different locations in the city, mock air raids, and “duck and cover” drills for school children in schools.

The need to establish a warning system for possible air attacks was discussed in March 1951 by a meeting of all McKean County police chiefs, held at Bradford’s police station. Air patrols were created and stationed throughout the county. Carl Sheldon, director of the McKean County Civil Defense Council, noted that “we know that it s possible for enemy planes, by flying low, to escape detection by radar. The only insurance we have is GOC — Ground Observer Corps.”

By the spring of 1952, “Operation Skywatch” established nine air warden posts throughout the county, manned by 1,800 volunteers. These posts were located in Bradford, Mount Alton airport, Marshburg, Kane, Mount Jewett, Smethport, Turtlepoint, Crosby, and Otto Township.

Local volunteers took shifts, visually searching the sky with binoculars, for enemy aircraft. Bradford’s own GOC post was located at the rear of Tuna Manufacturing Company on Mechanic Street.

To those who scoffed at the idea that Bradford would be attacked by Soviet aircraft, Bradford Civil Defense Director Earl Duggan argued “that kind of talk is communist propaganda, pure and simple. That is the kind of talk that Moscow loves to hear. … Russia knows that if she can strike us and knock us down, then keep us down, she has won the war and America is Joe Stalin’s to do with as he sees fit.”

Whether the majority of Bradfordians believed that the USSR was targeting our city or not, a mock air raid drill was scheduled for Sept. 15, 1952. It was the first such general alert since World War II and would be a practice test of the city’s preparedness.

The Bradford Era ran a special headline, telling its readers that a Red Test alert would begin at 12:25 p.m. It gave specific instructions as to the meaning of the warning sirens so that everyone who heard them would know what to do.

At precisely 12:25 p.m., sirens and factory whistles blew, and everyone was asked to seek shelter. The test lasted four minutes. Police and Civil Defense personnel were stationed at various locations throughout the city to make sure that everyone took part.

Bradford Mayor Joseph Hinaman gravely explained “it behooves all our citizens to follow instructions today and in future tests. The day may come when the sirens blowing will mean not a test, but the real thing.”

The instructions were simple but the results were disappointing.

It was discovered that the warning sirens and whistles could not be heard inside stores or restaurants; many people did not seek shelter inside buildings, but instead huddled in doorways. Factories had not prepared air raid shelters for their own employees. Some cars stopped and pulled over, while other cars kept on moving.

The city siren suffered a mechanical failure halfway through the warning and couldn’t complete the ‘all clear signal’ when it was over. And 20% of the people just ignored the whole thing.

Disappointed but not discouraged, the mayor promised that the city would upgrade its siren to an air horn or bull horn system and be ready for the next test.

A statewide air raid alert was held just a month later, in October 1952. This time, the new city siren and factory whistles would sound at 1:50 p.m., with a warning blast or ‘red alert’ for three minutes. Everyone hearing the signal were warned to take cover by going inside a building; all cars were asked to pull to a curb and stop completely. After the red alert, a three-minute waiting period would be held, signifying that enemy planes were overhead. When three minutes were up, another one-minute steady blast would sound the “all clear” signal.

But, once again, Bradford failed.

The new city air horn siren only lasted a minute before a fuse was blown, and although a new fuse was immediately put in place, it soon blew out as well. And while the people generally followed instructions — heading into buildings and stopping their cars — many of the city’s children, whose school classes had been canceled for the day, stayed outside playing.

Those failures of the first two alerts were prophetic. The mock air raid alerts continued throughout the 1950s, with varying success. In June 1955 “Operation Alert” had the streets somewhat cleared, but the air raid warning siren atop Beckwith Machinery failed to sound. A surprise alert in October 1955 — unannounced to the public — led to confusion and miscommunication between the police directing traffic and “operational difficulties” with the air horns once again.

In 1956, confusion reigned among the people, and two sirens — including the city siren once more — broke down. In 1957, during a nationwide alert, the red alert “take cover” signal was received 19 minutes too late in Bradford, and in 1959, the air raid warning system was called “almost useless” as locations in Foster Brook, the Sixth Ward, and north from South Bradford to Thompson Avenue never heard the sirens.

Still, Civil Defense carried on, firmly believing in their mission to herd people to safety in case of an enemy attack.

While not as enthusiastic about mock air raids as the Civil Defense personnel hoped for, most people in the city continued to halfheartedly participate in the drills by heading to shelters and stopping their cars along the road. Eventually, practice made perfect, and in May 1960 the annual nationwide air raid alert saw the entire city coming to a standstill for 15 minutes as all cars came to a complete stop and all pedestrians hurried inside to shelter. Success at last!

Other actions taken during those years further illustrate the Cold War atmosphere in the city. “Seconds for Survival” was shown at 4th Ward PTA meeting and local school children participated in the “Duck and Cover” Civil Defense Safety drills. Floyd Fretz, superintendent of Bradford Schools told teachers to look for and report any Communist who infiltrates their ranks. A Civil Defense hospital unit, containing medical equipment, folding operating tables, portable x-ray machines, drugs, medicines, and bandages was stored in the basement of the “old” hospital.

If the 1950s were devoted to air raid alerts and drills, the 1960s were dedicated to fallout shelters.

The federal government started the Community Fallout Shelter Program in the fall of 1961. Local public and private buildings were picked as suitable fallout shelters based on their location, building materials, and ease of

access. These shelters were designated as protection against nuclear radiation fallout, and were not necessarily bomb shelters although the two were often undistinguishable in the public’s eye. The federal government would provide the supplies and the local governments would provide the buildings.

In Bradford, those deemed acceptable for being designated as a fallout shelter in case of an enemy attack were: Option House, Hotel Bradford, Maceratese Club, Elks Club, Odd Fellows Building, Bus Terminal, Bell Telephone Co., St. Bernard’s Convent, the First Baptist Church, old City Hall, Hanley Company, Graham Florist, Moose Lodge, General Roofing, Sixth Ward School, Dresser Office building, Dresser Memorial Home, Bradford hospital, Orchard apartments, and Hobson Place School. Also, the Bradford Sewage Disposal Plant administration building, Lincoln School, Bradford Children’s Home, Bradford Central Christian High School, West Branch School, Pennhills Club, and Custer City School. Most shelters were located in basements.

These official fallout shelters were marked with colorful metal signs. Signs had been designed under the supervision of government psychologists, who determined that signs had to be a simple design, easy to identify and easy to remember. The color of each shelter sign, a black circle set against a yellow rectangular background with three yellow triangles in a geometric pattern was considered the most easily identified and could be seen and recognized at distances up to 200 feet.

People were encouraged to erect their own shelters in their basement, garage, or back yard and several families in Bradford did. Many still exist today, although the current home owner may not realize that the odd little room in their basement was actually a Cold War bomb shelter.

To help people plan and equip their own shelters, “See the Home Shelter!” a traveling atomic bomb shelter on a 30-foot trailer toured the state and arrived in Bradford on June 20, 1960. Promoted as “a living example of the proper method for family survival in case of an atomic blast, the display demonstrated how a family could erect their own bomb shelter in a basement or garage.

In November, 1961, a steel fallout shelter was manufactured by Laufenburger Erection Company of Bradford and put on display in Veteran’s Square. Shaped remarkably like an oil tank, the shelter was the brainchild of local Civil Defense officials who hoped that everyone would tour the shelter and reflect on building one of their own. And it was useful, too, since Kiwanis Kapers used the shelter as a ticket booth for the annual community talent show later that fall.

As time went on, the threat of the Cold War ended, as both US and Russia realized that any nuclear attack would be the annihilation of both countries. By the mid-1960s, the country itself was changing as civil rights, the space race, cultural changes, political assassinations, and the Vietnam war turned the thoughts of American inward to our own society.

In Bradford, as the years went by, fallout shelters in commercial buildings, schools, and churches were gradually repurposed, and their signs were taken down. Today, no city fallout shelters remain, but one sign still exists. Found above a doorway on the old Moose clubhouse on Pine Street, the last fallout shelter sign in the city serves as a solitary reminder of the Cold War era.