Abo Elementary School

Abo Elementary School and Fallout Shelter
Entrance structure to the school
Abo Elementary School is located in New Mexico
Abo Elementary School
Abo Elementary School is located in the United States
Abo Elementary School
Location1802 Center Ave., Artesia, New Mexico
Coordinates32°49′57″N 104°25′9″W / 32.83250°N 104.41917°W / 32.83250; -104.41917
Built1962
ArchitectFrank Standhart; W.R. Bauske & Co.
Architectural styleModern Movement
NRHP reference No.99001171[1]
NMSRCP No.1781
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 29, 1999
Designated NMSRCPJuly 16, 1999

Abo Elementary School in Artesia, New Mexico, United States, was the first public school in the United States constructed entirely underground and equipped to function as an advanced fallout shelter.[2]: 137–139, 148  Designed at the height of the Cold War and completed in 1962, the school had a concrete slab roof which doubled as the school's playground. It contained a large storage facility with room for emergency rations and supplies for up to 2,160 people in the event of nuclear warfare or other catastrophe. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.[1]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Rose, Kenneth (2001). One Nation Underground: The Fallout Shelter in American Culture. London: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-7522-5.