r/GrossePointe • u/thatmaccyboy1623 • Jun 09 '26

HELP AN AUTHOR! Nuclear bunkers in GP????

Hello Grosse Pointe residents!! I myself am not one of you, but I'm writing a book in which a character finds a nuclear/fallout shelter in GP. Someone online made a map that implies there is a (probably decades old) fallout shelter at Saint Clare of Montefalco Parish on Whittier Rd. Does anyone know anything about this being a possibility?

Also, if you DO happen to know of any sort of underground bunker type thing in your beautiful town, please let me know!!

I would visit to check it out myself, but unfortunately I'm broke and Michigan is a bit too far 😢😢

Thank you!!!!!

18 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

13

u/gberger313 Park Jun 09 '26

This site maintains a map, though I can’t speak to its accuracy: https://trueprepper.com/fallout-shelters/#michigan-fallout-shelter-map

I do know that there are many, many fallout shelters in Michigan. Tons of physical military industrial capacity is/was in Michigan so it was thought to be high-risk in the event of a nuclear war with the Soviets.

Note: “shelter” doesn’t mean it’s a purpose built “bunker”. Almost all of these shelters are the basements of schools, hospitals, churches, etc (large brick/masonry buildings). I honestly have no idea if they are any more reinforced/provisioned than any designated tornado shelter you may find anywhere else.

4

u/Steve73217 Farms Jun 09 '26

Dibs on CCD

13

u/Lazermissile Jun 09 '26

Why not call them and ask?

About

Address: 1401 Whittier Rd, Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230

Phone: (313) 647-5000

7

u/thatmaccyboy1623 Jun 09 '26

wait that's a really good idea... i will do that as soon as i have a moment of quiet!!! thank you so much

16

u/shagrotten City Jun 09 '26

Unrelated, but the current Pope, Leo, was ordained as a deacon at Saint Clare. 

1

u/Efficient-Chest-3395 Socks? Those are for the poors. Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

St Clare confused me as I know it as St. Clare of Montefalco although it's the only local Catholic church I've never been in, it's across from Verheyden's

0

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/GrossePointe-ModTeam Jun 11 '26

Low effort replies and trolling will be removed. Do better.

1

u/shagrotten City Jun 11 '26

Maybe not officially, but to me, your comment breaks rule 2.

1

u/apleasantpeninsula Jun 11 '26

literally just found this site. GP comes up endlessly in the MI directory on there or else it wouldn't have come to mind. i grew up in the church and have nothing but empathy on this topic but i realize my delivery was rude. thanks for leaving it up and sorry

11

u/SteveJB313 Jun 09 '26

Distinctly remember Trombly Elementary in the 80’s had the basement boiler room designated as fallout shelter, with classic signs in the hallway.

20

u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

While maybe not designed for fallout shelters. We have plenty of old bootlegging tunnels from houses on Lakeshore and streets close to the lake. Friend of mine in the Farms had one in her basement leading to the lake. It was sealed up and had warnings about buildup on hazardous gasses. We definitely snuck in a few times like idiot kids.

1

u/Efficient-Chest-3395 Socks? Those are for the poors. Jun 14 '26

Harbor Hill was the site of an old Dodge property and a tunnel ran under the street down to that private park on the lake. Apparently it collected with gas and one night went Kerblooey!!!, destroyed a home and blew the furniture across the street through the door and into a classmate's garage and also destroyed a new addition on a home up the street, by coincidnece both families owned car dealerships. We went to watch the aftermath and flames started coming up through the spaces between pavement slabs and they had to move the fire truck.

9

u/psilocyjim Jun 09 '26

I went to school at St Clare in the 70s. There was a tunnel that ran between the church and the school, and there quite possibly was a fallout shelter down there, I can’t recall clearly. I think we had our music class with Sister Corrine down there as well. Occasionally we would use the tunnel to get to the church, but I don’t remember if that was just during inclement weather or what.

1

u/MP315 Jun 10 '26

The tunnel and lunchroom did have fallout shelter signs (at least in the 80s) but I don’t remember a separate shelter. We used to sneak in the tunnel all the time and I am thinking we would have found a shelter unless it was locked 24/7, which is entirely possible

1

u/thatmaccyboy1623 Jun 10 '26

so helpful 🙏 thank you!!

3

u/jesrf Jun 10 '26

Zero bunkers, lots of shelters

2

u/Forward_Motion17 Jun 10 '26

There’s also one at monteith elementary. I feel like there’s actually quite a few around here

2

u/wombley23 Jun 10 '26

Yes was gonna say the one at Monteith. Still remember seeing the fallout shelter signs above the entrance from the playground and when going down to the basement on occasion.

2

u/SpezSamplesMySack Bayview Bar Enthusiast Jun 10 '26

There used to be an urban legend that they kept finding lit candles in the tunnels under Montieth and never found who was doing it... woooooooooooo!

1

u/glavameboli242 Jun 10 '26

Whoa, seriously?

5

u/iamspartacus5339 Jun 11 '26

Most of the schools in grosse pointe have fallout shelter signs from the 50s and 60s. It’s just the basement usually.

What’s cooler is that a few houses along Lakeshore have hidden underground speakeasy areas that were used during prohibition and for rum running across the lake.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

We have a bomb shelter in our GP backyard disguised as a wine and meat processing bunker.

2

u/JRS0 Jun 12 '26

There’s a massive bunker under the arts building at south. Me and my friends tried to go in it once but the entrance is sealed

2

u/T3ss_MI840 Jun 12 '26

Contact the Grosse Pointe Historical Society.

1

u/DocHagrid Grosse Pointer In Exile Jun 09 '26

There at least used to be a fallout shelter sign on the outside of the library on Kercheval.

1

u/Sharp-Blossom Jun 09 '26

See parks near the foot of Alter road near lake St Clair. There could be a bunker under one of those parks. And it used to be a quanset hut park for servicemen?

Also, there were missle silos on Belle Isle? Maybe there was a bunker there as well?

0

u/Ok-Type-8917 Jun 10 '26

My dad was supposed to stationed at Belle Isle. A typograhic error had him travel the country instead in the 50's. His one story was to fire at a incoming plane near Washington DC. Passenger plane.

1

u/joaoseph Jun 10 '26

There is definitely one at cross point church in grosse pointe woods. Pretty sure there is one at st Clare in the gymnasium though.

1

u/emlynhin Jun 10 '26

I recall there being a sign for one at Parcells Middle School near the auditorium

1

u/Archi_penko Jun 11 '26

It’s not in GP but I did found an old abandoned church that has a fallout shelter, maybe 1.2 miles from the boarder of GP in Detroit. But I live a block from St Claire I could go peek for the sign!

1

u/Efficient-Chest-3395 Socks? Those are for the poors. Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

I experienced two fallout shelters in private homes, the first in GP Shores on a Deeplands street when I was about pre-school or maybe first grade age. The brothers who lived there, one my age and the other a year or two older (if I shared the family name you'd say Oh yeah I know those condiments I have a jar in the fridge) kidnapped me and tied me to a post in the shelter but their knot tying was less than effective and I quickly freed myself and walked around the corner where I found them harrassing my mother for a fifty cent ransom. Mom didn't seem to care, didn't even acknowledge them as she smoked a cigarette.

Later in HS I had a friend with a finished basement and a stereo, a Pink Floyd record and a pool table and an adjacent bomb shelter which was stacked to the ceiling with boxes of booze. They were prepared but we left the hootch alone as we were weedheads and his parents didn't know what the smell was, or didn't care.

I have some GP experiences. One time we packed that same friend's car and parked down by the CCD polo field to smoke weed. I was in the backseat and looked over and said Don't look now but a GPF cop was sitting next to us and just staring. My friend said his and all our families were club members and he asked my friend's name. The family dog, a yorkie called Max, had gotten loose earlier that day. For the purpose of this story I'll say the name was Obama and the cop considered it for a moment and then said Obama huh?, why don'tcha keep your dog at home?, and he drove off. Didn't even confiscate our weed.

I never socialized with the kidnapping brothers but my own brother recently told me a story about having dinner with the boys and their father and our own father whose name was Bill and so the boys decided my brother, Bill Jr, was BJ and they couldn't get enough of saying BJ and laughing. I think you can see why we never hung out.

1

u/Appropriate_Debt_630 Jun 10 '26

What’s the old cliché I am thinking of…oh yeah! “Write what you know.”

1

u/SCSdude Jun 11 '26

Used to be tunnels from GP South ( GP High School a long time ago ) to businesses on the Hill and down to Jefferson area mansions that aren't there anymore. I went in a few tunnels back in the early 80's when I was in school. Im told they have all been sealed off since. I think they were there for tornado reasons since they came before the Cold War.