The Houston Shut down of 1955

[Michelle C]

During the cold war nukes was on everyones minds. I am sure most of you remember the ole duck and cover drills at school. I think it was every Friday at twelve noon that the air raid sirens would go off testing them and to remind Houstonians that the danger was always present. In the Summer of 1955 the radio stations started making public service announcements that the system would be checked at a certain time and for that a fifteen minute period of time everyone in the city was suppose to shelter indoors and the streets were to be cleared. The date was June 15, 1955. I remember my mom and I sat in the house looking out the window to see if we could see anyone moving about. It was like a ghost town out side with no one moving at all. I rand across this picture a few years ago while searching for something else and decided to save it. The picture was taken at Main and Pease. Main looks pretty desolate with only a policeman standing by to make sure that traffic is stopped and off the street.